Tonight at 6:00 p.m. I will be sitting in a chair for three hours and fifteen minutes learning a new skill, Computer Graphics. Computers are not my friend. Well, they may be my friend. But I am scared of them.
I may hit a wrong button and lose everything I just did on the computer. I may not remember what the teacher said and not be able to complete the course.
A red crayon feels more comfortable in my hand than a computer mouse.
Don’t fear failure so much that you refuse to try new things. The saddest summary of a life contains three descriptions: could have, might have, and should have.
-Unknown quotes
My mother walked me to my first day of school in first grade at Henry Kelsey Public School in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada in 1966. Because it was the first day, we were allowed to walk in the front door of the school. After the first day, the students were only allowed to enter through the back of the building.
I can still remember walking on the sidewalk in front of the school on the first day of first grade. A brief intense memory in years of vague images. Staring at my new shoes on the sidewalk. Remembering walking through the door. My mother holding it open for me.
Then in the video clip in my mind, I am sitting against the back wall of the auditorium holding tightly to my wooden twelve-inch ruler, watching my mother’s back as she walked away. I was alone.
My mother is not here to walk in the front door of the school with me tonight. It has been years since my mother drove me anywhere. I have had my driver’s license for 39 years. The last time my mother and I saw each other was over three years ago.
But somehow, today, as I get ready for my first day of class at the community college, I remember my mother. And I realise I am not really alone. My mother believes in me. Her voice is in my head telling me, “I believe in you.”
I will risk failure. I will try.
The greatest failure is the failure to try.
William Ward
Is there something new you want to try? Are you are afraid to fail?
I believe in you.
