Recently, I read an article highlighting the epidemic of stress on teenagers. With modern technology and high expectations, teens are becoming anxious and developing mental health disorders. It said in our society failure is no longer accepted.
It used to be. We valued failure because it helped us learn from our mistakes. But now, it seems, failure is no longer allowed. A failing grade in math means you will forever be doomed to a mediocre life, possibly even homelessness. (Footnote: I once was on the cusp of failing Honors Algebra One. I hope I am an example that you can triumph after a D. And I would also like the record to show: I dropped honors algebra for regular algebra which was a whole lot easier.)
As with anything else, I blame this phenomenon on “The Facebook.” Social media allows us to share every triumph and witness every failure. We are the curators of our own social media story. Therefore, we tend to show the successes and not necessarily the epic fails.
Everyone is more apt to post a picture of their last vacation than a picture of their gross sink… that hasn’t been cleaned in six weeks because, com' on, let’s face it, when you have a job, two kids, a dog and a 45 minute commute one way each day, the last thing on your priority list is a spotless bathroom. Now, let me be clear: I am not advocating for more pictures of dirty clothes hampers looking like Mt. Clothesmore. I don’t want to see that; nobody wants to see that. There really is no reason to share any sort of dirty laundry on social media.
But sharing a failure is valuable, every now and then. Especially when other people can learn from it. It’s important to remember on Facebook, people are mostly showing you their good side with none of their bad baggage. The Facebook is ultimately the longest first date ever.
So it’s in the spirit of learning from failure that I present to you my chicken and dumplings. It’s important to learn from failure. It’s also important to turn the crockpot off before you go to bed.
It used to be. We valued failure because it helped us learn from our mistakes. But now, it seems, failure is no longer allowed. A failing grade in math means you will forever be doomed to a mediocre life, possibly even homelessness. (Footnote: I once was on the cusp of failing Honors Algebra One. I hope I am an example that you can triumph after a D. And I would also like the record to show: I dropped honors algebra for regular algebra which was a whole lot easier.)
As with anything else, I blame this phenomenon on “The Facebook.” Social media allows us to share every triumph and witness every failure. We are the curators of our own social media story. Therefore, we tend to show the successes and not necessarily the epic fails.
Everyone is more apt to post a picture of their last vacation than a picture of their gross sink… that hasn’t been cleaned in six weeks because, com' on, let’s face it, when you have a job, two kids, a dog and a 45 minute commute one way each day, the last thing on your priority list is a spotless bathroom. Now, let me be clear: I am not advocating for more pictures of dirty clothes hampers looking like Mt. Clothesmore. I don’t want to see that; nobody wants to see that. There really is no reason to share any sort of dirty laundry on social media.
But sharing a failure is valuable, every now and then. Especially when other people can learn from it. It’s important to remember on Facebook, people are mostly showing you their good side with none of their bad baggage. The Facebook is ultimately the longest first date ever.
So it’s in the spirit of learning from failure that I present to you my chicken and dumplings. It’s important to learn from failure. It’s also important to turn the crockpot off before you go to bed.