“Some victories are merely defeat wearing the wrong clothing”
– Kiersten White
Dang, my little girl is tough! My 7 year old had a karate testing night this week. I have never before seen her so nervous for a testing night nor be so prepared. It was refreshing because I sometimes wonder if she has a passion for the sport which was clear after this particular night. While she did great in testing particularly around the one area she was most nervous about, she struggled with the breaking of the board which she has successfully completed multiple times before.
I could see the look of frustration as she fought to keep her composure yet the overwhelming feelings of defeat couldn’t be contained once I gave her an embrace. She sobbed and struggled to recognize the successful part of the testing… and the sheer fact that she didn’t give up! Such an incredible life lesson being had that she will undoubtedly learn and grow from!
I was proud to see her determination and resiliency the next morning as she enthusiastically committed to a weekend of practice to accomplish her goal. She has a ? in her eye and it is incredible to see in a 7 year old!! ❤️.
Looking forward to her crushing many boards on Monday!! ?
Our best life lessons often come on the heels of defeat. Our culture of success and earning a trophy for participation makes it harder to embrace failure and defeat and ultimately causes us to shy away from taking risks out of fear of failure. In terms of failure, perhaps the only thing to fear is not taking the opportunity to learn from our failures as that is ultimately the way we will learn how to succeed!
Yes! Thank you! So many have never learned how to lose and have never had the opportunity to learn how to deal with rejection and/or defeat. To me, that is one of life’s very most important lessons! Our son plays baseball and there were MANY times in his younger years that he spent the car ride home in tears, but he had to learn that it is a sport of failure and that he had to switch his focus to what went right instead of what didn’t. Maybe he grounded out twice in a game, but he got 3 RBI’s out of it. And, more importantly, I had to strap myself down and not come to his rescue, no matter how much I wanted to. Ugh! Parenting is hard!! Thank you for posting this!