26A: Celebrating
Failure
1.
This semester I failed at a lot of things. This
summer I studied abroad so I was exposed to a lot of new experiences and
encounters that I had never had before. Through these experiences I have grown
so much both personally and professionally. I have been working at a consulting
business this summer in Ireland. The first hurdle I had to go through was the
fact that it may be hard at times to talk about things because they come from a
different background and know different things. I think the hardest part was
that they talked differently. So I would go to do a project but would have done
it wrong because I didn’t understand the way they were delivering the
instructions.
2.
From these failures I have learned how to communicate
and work in a different culture from mine. It really has been an eye-opening
experience and I feel more confident in my work ability. Without this experience,
I wouldn’t be where I am today. I can now take what I know back to the United
States and share with my friends. Here they call it intercultural competence.
3.
In general, I think failure is a hard thing to
get over but it is ultimately what shapes us to be who we are today. Failure
adds character to someone. Character is very important in my opinion. If you
haven’t failed recently it is because you haven’t stepped out of your comfort
zone. The space outside of your comfort zone is where the growing happens. You can’t
possibly learn that much by sticking to doing the same thing every day. I handle
failure through a lot of different ways. First I am in denial but then after I
begin to get motivated again. This class has taught me to accept failure as a
means of learning.
Mary, your summer abroad sounds like a blast. You learned so many valuable things for not only yourself now but the future too. It seems like a life changing experience. I am sure it was hard to adjust, and good job for taking on that challenge. I agree that failure adds character and it a vital part of life. Without failure, we would not progress and get better at things. It makes you a better person even though it can be hard sometimes.
ReplyDeleteHey Mary,
ReplyDeleteI love Ireland, I wonder what fundamental differences you encountered along the way that made you think that your hardships would fall on deaf ears. I wish you luck in talking about your issues because bottling them up can be an excruciating experience. I hope you took this opportunity to find a way to resolve these issues healthily, and have learned how to deal with similar issues in the future.