Remember that classic scene from Star Wars, the one where Yoda explains to Luke how he should stop “trying,” because to “try” is to fail. A refresher if it’s been awhile since you’ve seen that one:
Well I say: poppycock.
If there’s one thing I’m learning in my life right now is that there is plenty of trying. And there are failures and false starts and wasted efforts, too. And there is a lot more trying than there is success-ing.
Perhaps I’m just tired of the mindset that I’ve held for too long that if I do something, there is no room for failure. That just doesn’t hold true for me anymore and it’s not a lesson that I want to teach my kids, either.
I’m trying now–at so many things, knowing full well that I will fail…often. I will fail more than I succeed. And that’s okay (that’s more than okay, actually).
8 comments
Cool that you have a blog. My sister just started one too. Wish I had something of value to say to the cosmos.
Maybe you could post pictures of your jewelry and talk about your creative efforts?
I love jewelry, and would love to see Marguerite’s pictures.
:D
Not my favorite later generation “thing” either! That you shouldn’t try things unless you want to do them and do them well. And that you will always succeed “if you put your mind to it.” Which, in education translates into students not wanting to try things or feel like actually learning because that means they somehow “failed” the first time around or that they don’t need what they don’t initially “like.” Or that “success” equals excelling, rather than simply understanding and utilizing. Wonderful post.
Indeed, Ingrid. I hadn’t thought of it in the context of teaching, but I we definitely do a disservice to students if we don’t value their efforts (and their failures).
It’s funny because this is one of my favorite bits from the Star Wars movies. I have strong perfectionist tendencies but what I got from this was not perfection but the acknowledgement that we only do what we really want to do. I was once at a retreat where several women in group at different times would say that they really wanted to meditate but they had to get coffee in the morning or they were too tired at night and that they tried to meditate but other things got it the way. Or like my colleague who said she wished she could make her bed everyday as I do, but other things got in the way. But to me it seemed that what they really wanted to do is to get coffee or watch tv; if they truly wanted to meditate they would have found a way to do. And if you want to make your bed it will get made. “There is no try”, is a way of saying don’t make excuses: it’s not a critique of the steps necessary to accomplish the act. Of course, your mileage may vary.
What you say rings true to me, too, Vajra. But maybe that’s why I think the trying is so important–because if you want a certain outcome, you’ve got to be willing to put in the effort. But I also think sometimes we need to separate ourselves from the outcome–and find that the trying can be part of the satisfaction of a goal.
“A man’s reach should exceed his grasp, else what a Heaven for?”