"Give up"? What does that mean? Get out there and rock those mistakes!

(credit)

And that's pretty much what I try to do. My new... philosophy? Okay, so maybe at some point I was a bit of a quitter. Back in middle school. And yeah, I still give up on things every once in a while. But then again who doesn't?

I should probably explain. This past year, I started trying lots of new activities, which I've mentioned before. But being a beginner among the more advanced isn't easy.

Sure, no one's really made fun of me or anything, but (in soccer and dance) I'm the one who gets singled out by the coach/teacher. I mean, in those two things, I was a total and complete beginner. There were other kids on my soccer team who had never played before, but they'd at least played lacrosse, or had been on the cross country team. And in ballet and jazz, I was literally the only one who knew nothing.

I guess if you're not into stepping outside of your comfort zone, that sounds like a nightmare, and you might be asking yourself why on earth I torture myself like that.

Well, first of all, these are things I've always wanted to do. (Admittedly though, the desire to play soccer was more recent, and more tied to me wanting to be more athletic.) Seriously, I've wanted to take ballet and jazz classes since I was four or five. And I guess running for class president was one of those things I felt I had to do before leaving high school. No point in having unnecessary regrets.

And before the uplifting part of this post, I should point out that it's not such a bad thing to be bad at something. Being a beginner means there's only room for improvement, and that's something positive to focus on. No one is great at something at first. But if you stick with it, if you keep trying, eventually you'll be the one that the newbie envies.

So in the past year: I joined the JV soccer team, which was a huge feat all in itself for me. Last year I thought I was a non-athletic as anyone could be-- I could barely run for five minutes. But now I run all the time, and even go to the gym pretty often. And it's fun. Plus, I even made a goal at my first game ever. Then, I decided I wanted to join my school's student government, and I made a slightly impulsive decision to run for class president. But I won! And after a while, I realized taking chances and trying new things was just making my life better. So in June I started taking ballet and jazz classes, and while I still suck pretty badly, I'm getting better. And after every class I feel amazing.

I'll admit, at first I want to quit soccer, and dance, and I regretted handing in that student government sign-up sheet. Sure, sitting at home would have been easier, and it was tempting sometimes, but it also would have gotten me nowhere.

So try something new, don't give up on it, and if you don't know what you're doing, just fake it (as I've learned in dance class)!

Okay, so maybe my examples aren't very "deep", but determination and perseverance can apply to anything, really.

Is there anything you really want to do, but you feel that you'll fail at?