Here’s what I love most about being a teenager: it’s expected that you’ll make mistakes often. Many people give you room to grow.

However, the more open you are about your goals and dreams, the more pressure is put on you to get everything perfect.

Additionally, as you learn and succeed, people start to expect you to get everything right the first time. It’s an unspoken rule that when you master one thing, you have to master the next.

On one hand, this is extremely motivating to me. I love the pressure, and I strive to make progress every day, to reach my goals, and to succeed at what I put my mind to.

On the other hand, this makes me somewhat frustrated. It seems like a young adult can look at failure in a positive light all he wants, but it never changes other people’s opinions of his failure. They smile and wag their heads, saying “I knew it all along,” and forget about him.

As a young person who is excited about life, I plead for every teenager who is trying out new ideas:

Let me fail.

 

Don’t try to stop me because you think my dreams are too big. Don’t stand in my way because I might hurt myself. And if I make a mistake, urge me to fix it and become a better person because of my failure.

Failure is an integral part of the learning process. To the people surrounding the young, passionate learners among you: Stop modeling failure as bad. Recognize that experience is one of the best teachers anyone can learn under.

Let me fail.