Me, in Concert

Being a beginner at 37, was I strong enough to fail?

This is from an essay I wrote on parenting for the July 2002 issue of Reader’s Digest. What a crazy time of life… three homeschooled daughters, part-time admin/vet tech work at our veterinary hospital plus getting my writing career going. Also, an average of 2.5 pets per capita in our house. Five people. Do that math.

I’d forgotten how hard it was to keep at something while having more failures than successes.

It was a marvellous time of life. Part of me misses being a young mother. A bigger part of me is so grateful for the memories, and that I’m in another stage of life I love just as much.

The main message? Don’t be afraid to fail. There’s more to be learned from failures, and continued trials, from practice, practice, practice, followed by that one magical success… than there is from easy success. (At least, that’s what I hear. Easy success hasn’t been my journey.)

So have a great day, my friends. Try something new. Tell me about your wonderful, spectacular, life-affirming fails. Repeat. And when that glorious, elusive success arrives, shout it to the mountaintops!

Read the full essay.

Original essay: copyright © Roxanne Snopek 2002

Photo credit: copyright © Chick Rice 2002

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