Failure

By: Roselyn Sandiford '21

Failure is something that can either make or break you, depending on how it is perceived. An individual can either wallow in their failure or take the lessons; the loss has taught them to improve themselves and pursue a better path. Experiencing failure or failing at something does not make an individual failure as there is always an opportunity to learn, grow, and improve. Sometimes the decisions we make may appear to be failures to the people around us, but we must remain true to ourselves and remain open to the endless opportunities and possibilities ahead of us. This is something I had to learn when I decided to stop playing basketball.

A time when I experienced failure was when I decided to stop playing basketball. Most people might not call this a failure, but when I first decided, that’s how I felt. My parents put a lot of money into basketball to ensure that I could be the best player. They had me on one of the best basketball teams in New Jersey; they paid for all the traveling expenses and took time from their jobs to travel with me. I am grateful that my parents were able to give me this opportunity because I know that there are many kids in the world who are unable to have this type of experience. However, somewhere along the way, I started to lose interest in the game. I told my parents I wanted to stop playing basketball back in August 2019. When I told them this information, I had tears in my eyes. I wasn’t crying because I was sad about not playing, but I was crying because I felt like they were disappointed in me. My parents had invested a lot of time and money in building my athleticism and supporting me in the game I once loved. Although my parents said my decision was okay, I felt like their eyes were telling a different story. This affected me negatively because I felt I had let them down and disappointed all the people who believed in me. My entire family, as well as family friends, supported my basketball journey; after all, one of my aunts was a star basketball player in both high school and college. However, as time went on, I started to look at things differently and concluded came to the conclusion that I had made the right decision. I needed to be true to myself and be faithful to the world around me (family, friends, teachers, coaches, etc.).

Everyone's experience of failure is different, and while the experience may be painful and/or uncomfortable, failure helps to keep us humble. Embracing our failures may teach us valuable lessons we may not have learned otherwise. I could have continued to play basketball to not feel like a failure to my family, but I would have missed the valuable lesson I learned from this experience. This experience has taught me that quitting doesn’t make me a failure; knowing when to walk away could be your best option and put you on a better path than the one you were on before. Basketball was no longer helping me grow as a person, and I was no longer happy with the game. It was a tough decision because I knew of the disappointment it would bring to my family. However, this was the right decision for me. This decision allowed me to be true to myself, and this is a valuable lesson that I will always remember.