Celebrating Failure

I work as a nanny for two awesome kids, they are 1 and 2 years old. This year I agreed to go with their mother to take them to swim class. This was the only way she could take them both at the same time, otherwise she would have to schedule two separate classes for them. We were the only people in the swim class, and it was at a public pool, so we weren’t allowed to take the kids in the pool before the class started. They both love playing in the pool in general, but they were in an unfamiliar place, and as soon as we got in the pool, they had to do certain exercises, and they didn’t have any time to play and have fun, get comfortable.

This did not go well. The kids were frustrated and scared, and they both wanted their mom. They were not doing anything the instructor asked, and they just ended up crying the whole time. (This is not like them, by the way, they are nice, agreeable, cooperative kids in general). 

After two classes, we realized it wasn’t working at all, and we decided to quit the class. We used what we learned from the experience to hire someone who would come to the house to teach them in their pool at home. They had an absolute blast and ended up loving their class and their new teacher. Both of them learned so much.

I think this experience is a good representation of how failure is experienced and overcome in general. We saw something wasn’t working, considered what about it wasn’t working, and changed our plan according to those observations. In that way we were able to turn a failure into a success. 

We are all just doing the best we can, all of our decisions and perceptions are based on the limitations of our experience and knowledge. “Failure” is an invaluable extension of that pool of experience and knowledge. This can be a powerful component of those sources on which to draw when making decisions or perceiving things moving forward.

This class has not changed my perspective on failure in general, but it has changed my perspective on something that I have always been uncomfortable with, which is approaching people for business reasons. I am very social, and I don’t have any issues addressing people in social settings, but addressing them for business reasons as we have had to do in this class has given me an uncomfortable feeling. Ripping off the proverbial band aid has helped me overcome that discomfort.