Whether it’s a sport, a test, or anything else in life, at some point you are going to fail. For many people, including myself, that failure came with a class.

What is failure? Many times when we think of failure, we think of our world ending because the word has such a negative connotation. But failure defined in the simplest of terms is just a lack of success.

Not all failure is bad. Just because you didn’t prove to be successful with something doesn’t mean that you are a failure. Everyone is bad at something; that’s why we aren’t perfect.

Sometimes failure comes with a simple sting: you played your heart out but didn’t win the game. That’s not awful. You’re still alive and breathing, life is still going on. Yeah, it sucks at this moment, but in five years it won’t even matter.

However, the other times' failure comes, it won’t always be so gentle: failure to pass school and graduate, failure to get a job, etc. These are the tough failures, the ones that determine the rest of your life. These are the scary failures.

While these are two vastly different types of failures with different consequences, they both stem from the same base: unsuccessfulness. And in life, we seem to get the extremity of these two situations confused.

We think that life will all work out, and it usually does, but that we won’t ever fail majorly. And when we fail small things like a test or winning the big game, it feels like our whole world is crashing and burning. Majority of the time it’s not going to, but at that moment it feels like it.

That’s how it felt for me, at least. I had been a very diligent and successful student my entire academic career: Salutatorian, receiving college scholarships, A’s and B’s, etc., so I NEVER expected to fail a class. EVER. And once I did, I thought the world was going to stop.

But guess what? It didn’t. The world kept turning and I kept living my life. And now a semester later, I laugh about it.

I laugh at the fear I had before telling my family. I laugh at the fear I had acknowledging that I had failed. I laugh at the fear I had when I discovered that failing was even a possibility for me.

Yes, you read that right. I thought that failure was not an option for me. I knew failure existed and I knew people who had failed, but for me, and many other people, I never thought that failure would happen to me.

And just like most other people, I was confused by the severity of my failure. I thought my academic career was going to end. I thought my GPA was going to tank and I would never recover. I thought, “Oh gosh, this is the end of my dreams!” But that wasn’t the case at all.

Once I finally acknowledged it, told my family, and began accepting it, I realized that it wasn’t that big of a deal. I retook the class over the summer, passed it, and moved on with my life. And now when I think about it, instead of feeling hurt and crushed, I feel relieved and even thankful.

Now I know those are not normally what a person tells you when they fail a class, but it’s the truth. I feel relieved because failing that class destroyed a part of my self-image that I was never aware of.

Failing that class allowed me to realize that yes, I am human and yes, I will fail time and time again. I learned how to lick my wounds, get back up, and move on.

Failing allowed me to break my stereotype and face a fear I didn’t even know I had. Failing that class freed me. It was my reality check.

Now, I highly don’t recommend failing your classes at all. That’s a very bad idea. But I want you to know that if you do, don’t be afraid. Don’t let this failure consume and become you. Let it drive you and free you.

If you are a lucky one who had never felt that type of failure yet, whether it be a class, sport, or anything in life in general, and you don’t feel that you can relate, that’s okay. First off, you are blessed so don’t abuse that. And second, table this for another day.

In life, we are all going to fail. Some of us will have small failures like this one, other’s might not be so lucky. Sometimes we might even feel life failures, but we aren't.

The important thing about failing is knowing the difference and determining which one correctly applies to your situation. Do not to let it haunt you, but change you for the better.