A Difficult Moment Analysis

Can you imagine a life in which you never try anything new? How impossibly boring! I concur with that which Ralph Waldo Emerson once posited: "Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow." It is important to try new things that one has not already mastered because growth is essential, the challenge encourages resilience, and there is enjoyment to be gained by doing so. Challenging one's self is what teaches us to be resilient. Without challenge, one cannot learn how to overcome challenge. It is important to be resilient so that we, as humans, learn to overcome setbacks, which are inevitable. If one can learn how to handle failure through many venues, they will be better prepared when there
are setbacks in their life that are out of their hands. For example, if one lives a sheltered life without any challenges and then is involved in a debilitating accident, they will not be prepared to overcome such an accident. Failure of many kinds is important to teach one how to overcome challenges that will certainly be present at some point in their lives. Growth only results when one is challenged. For example, I joined my school's debate team and found debating to be a very difficult pursuit. It would have been easy to give up, but continuing on resulted in tremendous growth.
It is the debates that I lose that teach me the most. When I am challenged, I realize my limits and how to surmount them. Additionally, competing against a superior opponent allows me to learn from their successes despite my failures. If I only debated inferior opponents who I knew I could win against, my skills would stagnant because I would not be learning. The only way to improve is to invite the possibility of failure and go forward comforted by the knowledge that a failure would not be entirely a failure as it would result in growth. Even if one does not find success in new pursuits, one can still have incredible fun. One summer, I attempted surfing. Though I fell off each time I managed to catch a wave, I had some of the most fun I ever have in a single afternoon. I realized then that enjoyment does not depend on success. One can have a great time while not necessarily succeeding. If a pursuit is enjoyable, it is worthwhile despite the failure that may result. Some may say that challenges bring about too great a risk, but challenges are what improves people, teaches them to grow and be resilient, teaches them to not worry about failure on a small scale, and teaches them that fun is a worthwhile pursuit. Challenges
are what make life compelling.