College and the Fear of Failing

One of my close internet friends had just made a post about the fear of failing and college on her blog (Click to read here), and it got me thinking about a few things. So I just kinda wanted to put out my own thoughts about these subjects out there and see if anybody else might relate.

-Fear of Failing-

I’ve noticed that a lot of people around me have the fear of failing; including family members, friends, and aquaintences. But I’ve never really had that fear. I don’t lose hours of sleep wondering if my life’s going to suceed (whatever that may be). I’ve never felt afraid of what my future may hold.

I’ve always felt like life is just a huge learning experience that’s mixed with both good and bad. Sometimes I’ll make good choices that lead to good experiences, and sometimes I’ll make bad choices that lead to bad experiences- or maybe even a mix of either one. And I know at some point in time I’m going to mess up and fall, but it’ll be okay because I learn faster when I fall.

Erghhh.

I feel like I’m just spouting words together and hoping they’ll make sense or sound smart.

So let me try to give you a picture:

When a baby learns how to walk, they’re going to fall, topple over, and tumble everywhere. Your wallet will be empty because you bought so many band-aids. But then the baby will get better over time and hang onto furnature as they learn how to balance and strengthen their legs. Then they’ll actually start walking, and from there will eventually be able to run without giving the pavement or a lonely wall a smooch every 10 minutes.

That’s how I see life.

You deal with the mess-ups as they come, learn from them so you won’t keep making those same mistakes over and over again, and try to figure out how to make lemonade out of the situation. You only fail if you’ve decided it’s failure.

So that’s why I try my hardest to focus on the positive. Sure, I might not have stuck with my exercise routine everyday. But instead of focusing on the part where “I didn’t exercise everyday- I failed myself,” I see it as a stepping stone to the goal of a healthy life I want to live, and try again.

Sure, I might not have gotten the highest grades in my schoolwork. But now I know the areas that I’m weak at, and focus on that until I get better. Until that one fine day where I can pass that part of a test without even breaking a sweat.

I do think that my faith in God has really helped me in this particular area of my life as well. Like it says in Romans 8:28, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” So even if I do fail, God can take it and turn it into something amazing. Heck, God can even take things that were meant for evil and turn it into something good (Genesis 50:20).

So for those of you who are struggling with the fear of failing, I challenge you to try to pause, take a step back, and try to think of what’s good in that situation instead of the negative. You might not have lost all of the weight you wanted to, but it’s a start! You might have started a project that wasn’t finished by it’s deadline, but at least you have less to work on now than what you would’ve had earlier.

Trying to find the positivity everywhere that you can is a great start to combating your fear.

-College-

Now that I’m finally coming closer to the college age, I’m starting to think that college isn’t for me.

Here’s my predicament:

• College is EXPENSIVE. Like “Sell your leg, dominant hand, and soul to the devil,” expensive- and I ain’t about that debtor’s life. If I’m going to college, I want it to be on paid scholarships or out of pocket expenses. I don’t want loans, banks, and debt looming over my head for most of my waking life afterwards.
• You aren’t guarrenteed a job in your field once you graduate. So sure- I might have a degree in medical-astro-electrical-engineering and can build a robot from parts in a junk yard, but that doesn’t mean that I’ll be able to pay the bills with that degree. In fact, it can be difficult getting a job just to push a broom around. And the reason why you can’t get a job is because your degree makes you “overqualified.”
• Whatever college can teach you, I can probably find a youtuber, a blogger, or a friend to teach me for free or a trustworthy service online to teach me it at a fraction of the cost. Truly, the internet is a magical thing.

Also I know that I have marketable talents right here and now, and I have a very good idea of what I’d like to do with them.

Now that’s not to say that I wouldn’t benefit at all from going to college. I think there’s always room for improvement and pursuing a higher education is a very smart and honorable thing.

And I would like to go in the future, but I don’t think it’s something for me right after I officially finish high school. That’s just my personal opinion.

 

♥  My Questions To You   ♥

Do you have a fear of failing? If you do, what do you fear of failing most?

Any thoughts on my opinion on college? Do you want to go? If you don’t, why not? If you do, why do you want to go?

As always, thank you for reading and staying to the end of the post!

~Felicity Annora