Accepting Failure
Rohan enjoyed his co-curricular activities. His only motivation to study hard was that one-hour extra playtime reward which his mother gave him when he completed his homework on time. He was quite exceptional in cricket and was improving at it every day. He, along with his friends, in his free time, enjoyed playing and practicing. He was an all rounder be it batting, bowling or fielding – he loved it all. Everyone in his school, even his teachers admired his skills and appreciated him. His parents also supported him and this made him feel more confident.
On a fresh Monday morning there was a new admission. A boy named Freddy just shifted to this school and he too, was very passionate about cricket. He had to shift in this school as his father lost his job and they had to move to another city. Freddy had a sister named Farah, he loved her a lot and did everything he could for her. Farah loved to run and aspired to become an athlete when she grew up. Farah wanted new shoes as her old shoes were shredded, she was using them for the last 4 years. She was hesitant to tell this to her father as he just lost his job and was struggling with the expenses of the family. Freddy felt bad as he was unable to do anything. Next day when the children went to school.
They realised that there was a cricket match and the man of the match would get new shoes as a reward. Freddy got very excited and decided to play and win this for his sister. He practiced rigorously and prepared the whole week. Rohan on the other hand was very excited as he had never lost before and was pretty sure that he would easily triumph. The match started and Rohan was out on his first ball, he also missed two important catches while he was fielding. He got exasperated and annoyed. Freddy on the other hand scored 60 runs for his team and displayed an excellent performance with great fielding and bowling. Soon the match got over and Freddy was declared as the man of the match. Rohan felt sad, angry, envious and all sorts of unhealthy emotions started to overwhelm him. Tears rolled down his eyes when his mother came to calm him down, she hugged him and said “It’s okay Rohan, you can not always win, you have bad days, sometimes it will be your fault and sometimes things might just not favour you.” To this Rohan replied, “Mom I never lose.” Does this mean you can never lose? Asked his mother. She continued, “You cannot set these unrealistic expectations from yourself. It is ok to lose and losing is a part of playing. You will have to learn to accept and move ahead. Analyse things and look where you went wrong and improve it the next time. If Freddy played well today, I would appreciate him, he worked hard and he got his reward. See how happy he is!”
Rohan turned around and saw Freddy was giving his new shoes to his sister. The smile on his sister’s face was so pure that it melted Rohan’s heart. Rohan realised that he was wrong, he couldn’t always win and he should not get upset or envious of other people’s victory instead should try to learn from them. Rohan congratulated Freddy, hugged him and appreciated his game. The next day Rohan and Freddy practiced together for their next match and enjoyed playing together.
QUESTIONS
1) Do you think it was ok for Rohan to feel the emotions that he did
- Yes, because he learnt from those at the end
- No, one can never feel upset or angry
- Emotions are not important
2)What happens when you fail at doing something?
- You shouldn’t attempt at the same thing again
- You should try and see what can be improved
- You should forget about the failure
3)Do you agree with what Rohan’s mother said?
- No
- Yes