Failure is a crucial part of life.

It’s something that everyone has experienced and is normal. However, that doesn’t stop the idea of failure from being terrifying. What a person chooses to do with failure can have a huge impact on their lives.

Failure is everywhere, but so is success!

This idea goes hand in hand with a quote by Mark Frost: “There is no light without darkness.”

Without failure, there can be no success.

In fact, it is failure that makes an end success so much more rewarding.

In Ekaterina Walter‘s article ‘30 Powerful Quotes on Failure’ she wrote: “The simple truth is – no great success was ever achieved without failure-…-whether we like it or not, failure is a necessary stepping stone to achieving our dreams.”

However, the fear to fail can drive individuals away from pursuing their dreams and goals. This is why it is so important to push past this fear and use failure to our advantage.

In William Arruda‘s article ‘Why Failure Is Essential To Success‘ he said, “We never learn to move out of our comfort zone if we don’t overcome our fear of failure.”

You may stay in one area of your life simply because it is comfortable, but this will inevitably get you nowhere. Furthermore, getting rid of this fear does not mean you need to appreciate failing, by any means.

In an article by WanderLust Worker, the author explains that they do not “particularly enjoy failing, but failure, through its life-altering lessons, makes us into better persons.”

Failure causes growth, no matter how big or small. Failures push people to move forward and build resilience along the way. Each student at Air Academy has also experienced failure in their life.

Sarah Bossard, a senior at Air Academy, wrote that their fear of failure lies more with the people and commitments in their life. “When it comes to friends or work, then I am definitely scared of failure.”

Bossard also shared one of their personal experiences, telling of the time they failed to be a good friend and consequently lost a best friend of theirs.

“Since then I’ve learned so much about understanding and listening, accommodating and helping my friends,” Bossard explained, “I’ve learned how to communicate in healthy ways and show care towards the people around me.”

Bossard finished by writing “if what happened didn’t happen…I wouldn’t be the person I am now.”

Failure is the ultimate teacher, don’t push away these lessons! The acceptance of failure is the first step to really embracing a better version of oneself.

As said by Brian Honigman from Huffpost: “Mistakes will surface new opportunities.”

Additionally, Henry Ford once said, “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.”

People who lack resilience will always make the conscious decision to give up, it feels easier to give in to the defeat. Yet, through building up one’s self-awareness, failure can become a greater asset. The person who has failed and took it as a lesson to grow and try again will always be more successful than the one who gave up.

Lastly, a quote by motivational speaker Denis Waitley concludes: “Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid only by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.”

Your failures have shaped you to be who you are. Stay resilient, take every failure as an opportunity to learn, and don’t give up!