Sometimes failure is the best thing that can happen in life

I’ve been through a lot of “failures” in my life.

I failed out of post-secondary three separate times, was fired from jobs, and had to take out loans to get by.

These things are considered to be huge no-nos in life; giant failures that you’re supposed to never ever experience. But if it weren’t for these failures I would never have gotten to where I am now.

I would have never made it into an industry that I love — and look forward to working in everyday.

Some background information about my story: I grew up in a small town and went to an even smaller high school. I was one of the lucky few that had great opportunities in life. I traveled to international competitions while on the robotics team, and placed fairly highly on an international scale.

I thought this was the career path for me.

Robotics? Marine Biology, perhaps?

I was decent at it and it seemed like everyone thought it was the logical course for me to take. I jumped headfirst into a remotely-operated vehicle pilot technician program, thinking that it was perfect.

Fast forward to the end of the first semester. I got my marks back and didn’t have the grades to pass. Failure #1.

This was the first time I’d ever experienced a “failure” so large. I didn’t want it to define me, so I went back and did all the same courses again. Then the time came to get back the final marks: Failed. Again.

I decided the hell with that, and got some retail jobs so I was at least making some money. I worked a bunch of different jobs mostly at minimum wage or part time.

I did this for a while until I decided “Hey, it’s been a few years, I’ve matured a bit … I think I’ll go back to school.” 

Boy, was I wrong.

Video game design beckons 

I picked something that I thought I could make a career out of: marine biology, but I failed out of that one too. This one hurt less than the others. I would never speak of these “failures,” I was ashamed. I was used to failure at that point so I picked myself up and went back to those retail jobs.

A few years pass and I’m starting to get restless in the same retail jobs day in and day out.

I wanted more out of life but was scared to be seen as a failure once again. I’ve already let so many people down and didn’t want to go through that again. But I was determined not to let these past “failures” define me, and applied for a course on a whim not thinking I was going to get in.

It was more of a dream than anything.

But if not for the first three “failures” I experienced, I would never have found my passion in life.

I found out I got accepted a few months before the semester started, and packed up my entire apartment and moved across the island to start video game design. I’ve always had a passion for video games and never thought I’d be able to make a career out of it.

I knew this was something that I would enjoy, but didn’t know if it would be another failure just like all the rest. I knew I’d have to work harder than I had before to make this work.

To my surprise everything came easier than it had before. I found something that I truly loved and actually looked forward to new projects.

And this time, I passed. 

I passed with honours and made the dean’s list. I was in shock. I was so used to failure that I had no idea how to process my newly found success. I had passed the entire course and got a job before I’d even graduated.

But if not for the first three “failures” I experienced, I would never have found my passion in life.

Now that I can look back, I’m grateful for them. Without those failures — who knows what I’d be doing. Who cares if you fail a few times in your life? Who cares if you’re not sure what you want to do straight out of high school.

Everyone has a different path they need to take. Sometimes they have a few failures, sometimes they don’t. Just don’t let these failures stay failures — turn them into success.

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