As I start my second semester at a small liberal arts college, I constantly reflect on my first semester. College was a brand new experience for me, and I had no idea what I was getting into. Often, I like to talk about my first semester successes with my friends and acquaintances, and I like to listen to them discuss theirs. However, in my most private moments, I tend to think most of my first semester failures. While I don’t like to dwell on the times I messed up, I have come to realize that the failures are so much more important. Failures are more important than successes because they are what truly teach us - not only the things we learn immediately, but the important life lessons that can be hard to find.

I surprised myself with how fast I made friends. I have met wonderful people, and we truly like to be around one another. One of the first things we did was join the intramural flag football league. I have never played in an organized game of football in my life, but I understood the basics and was athletic enough to do my job on the team. So here we come, a group of freshmen who have known each other for only a short couple of weeks. We had some true athletes on our team and were very confident going into our first game. We arrived at the intramural sports field a few minutes early to throw the ball around and warm up, and high egos were not in short supply. Out came a team full of seniors, who looked pretty athletic, but we thought we still had good chances. We thought wrong, and were mercy ruled in the first half. Throughout the rest of the season, while we did improve, we never won a game. At first, I thought the only thing I learned was how to play football. But looking back on this experience made me realize something more. I learned to lose. I had always thought that if I did my best, I would succeed, because in the past when I would focus and practice in academics and sports, I would. However, I played my heart out during these football games, and I lost. I realized then that even if you work your hardest, you might not succeed. That’s how it is in real life, and that’s okay, because successes wouldn’t mean a thing if we didn’t have failures.

Since I came to Young Harris, I have found plentiful opportunities to hike, swim, and explore. At a club fair at the beginning of the semester, I learned my college had a rock climbing club. Having only climbed a couple of times, I liked the idea of being able to go climbing with people who actually knew what they were doing. So I signed up, practiced at the rock wall in the gym, and tried to prepare myself for the first trip of the semester. I climbed the first route we set up; it seemed easy. I thought I had this rock climbing thing in the bag. However, as I tried the next route, I fell. I couldn’t get a good hold on the rock from where I was hanging. Every time I tried to pull myself up, I kept slipping. I felt overwhelmed with fear. Not because I thought I was in danger, but because I didn’t want to be the only person who couldn’t climb the route. After I realized I was stuck, I was lowered down by my belay. I thought when I touched the ground I would be done with climbing, at least for that trip. But instead, I was told, “Keep looking up.” Looking back at the experience, I realized that when I had fallen, I kept looking at where I was at that time. Instead of looking forward and deciding what to do, I just kept grabbing at rocks in front of me. Because of this disaster (as I saw it at the time), I learned that everyone will fall at some point. Each of us will have a bad day, and life gets hard for us all. In Matthew 5:45, we are told the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike. But when you feel overwhelmed, you can’t keep looking at where you are. If you do that all you will see is the rain. However, if you keep looking up, you will be able to see the sunlight on its way.