A healthy attitude towards failure – CLICK TO COMMENT

By Joelle Cohen  Once upon a time, I was on the debate team. It was fun and everyone thought I would win. Above all, I was passionate about the debate’s subject being it was animal testing. When the debate started, I was surprised at the intelligence of the kids on the other team. They showed me much stronger points of the argument. I wasn’t surprised when I lost. But, I was resentful. I blamed it on so many things. I blamed it on my partner who admittedly stuttered and did get a lower score than me. I blamed it on my lack of preparation time, but it may have been my overzealous confidence. This taught me to prepare and not be so conceited.  I was so upset at not winning anything but, in reality, I was disappointed in myself. I still had fun at the competition which encouraged me to sign up for the 8th grade debate team again and try better this time.

This story was published in the Bar Mitzvah Magazine