Molly and I love to travel, so when one of our best friends asked us to go to Lake Tahoe and help surprise her husband for his 30th birthday we didn’t hesitate. Her husband was my college roommate and we were both in each other’s weddings. Needless to say, we instantly said yes without even looking at or considering our schedules.
I love how on board Molly is with just picking up and going, saying “why not” to opportunities to travel. It makes me come alive and feel like a kid again. It’s a daring new adventure with no other purpose behind it other than having fun. It’s life at its purest, full of exploration, learning, laughter, and love.
ACTING LIKE A KID AND LEARNING FROM FAILURE
This trip to Tahoe required all of the above, and we drained every last drop. Our first day we went on an amazing hike around a tiny fraction of the massive lake called Emerald Bay. With crystal clear water to our right and pine tree filled mountains to our left we continued to look around, awe inspired, tripping on rocks and becoming dirty and proud of it. We came to a beach area where the obvious thing to do was sprint into the lake with high pitched screams like younger versions of ourselves.
The water was so cold that it took our breath away as soon as we jumped in. Remaining in the child-like mentality we saw a little island out in the middle of the bay and started debating whether or not we should swim to it and back. We opted for no, thinking that we would likely turn into ice cubes on our way out there, and remained in the shallow end of the pool. After all, there weren’t any lifeguards.
WHAT’S THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN?
Our second day we rented a boat and drove around examining the lake and trying to pick out the best spot to water ski. My friends talked me into giving it a try for the first time. I usually give into this kind of peer pressure. I remember thinking, “What’s the worst that can happen?!”
I hopped in the water wearing a life jacket, water skis, and the mixed look of fear and excitement. Oddly enough I looked like a fresh out of water while I was in the water. I’m more a sports on land type of guy. I got up time and time again only to wipe out time and time again. Every time the boat came back around I continued to say yes until my final spill resulting in a huge gash next to my right eye. Apparently that was the worst that could happen.
LEARNING BY PLAYING
On our last day we made our way up the north side of the lake where we stumbled upon amazing rock formations that dipped in and out of the water. Instantly we felt like kids yet again. We turned to each other, nodded in approval, ran back to the car to put our swimsuits on, and started exploring.
There were times where we were slipping and sliding down rocks into the lake. And not on purpose. There were other times where we would trip while climbing towards higher ground to get a better view. There were doubts and fears involved, but we kept standing on the edge. I came out of there looking like I had been in a low key motorcycle accident. I had scrapes, scabs and bruises on my legs, chest, and forearms to go along with the gash by my eye from the day before.
It was a trip of a lifetime because we decided to make it that way. We acted like kids, full of whimsy and a thirst of exploration, learning from failure every step or misstep of the way. We were born to be brave, try new things, explore, fall, scrape our knees, rub some dirt on it (ok maybe you’d prefer a bandaid) and try again. Worse case scenario, maybe we fall and break a bone. If that’s the case, dirt won’t do (or your bandaid) so we would get a cast instead. But even then it always heals. Always.
Somewhere in our lives we’ve started to confuse the smallest scrapes for broken bones, and then thought that every cast was permanent. Our fear of failure has grown as we have grown up. It’s so important to understand that failure is temporary and never as bad as we perceive it to be. We can look for the lessons, learning from failure, walking away better, more seasoned, and stronger than we were before.
WHY IS LEARNING FROM FAILURE IMPORTANT?
How many times have we said no to an exciting new experience because we were busy foreshadowing our own mistakes? “What if I fail?” seems to be the go-to thought instead of “What’s the worst that could happen?”
Kids are always busy learning from failure. They develop so quickly because they fail so often. We think they’re crazy and courageous enough because they don’t know any better. I would argue that they know better than anyone else. Invite your inner kid out to play and don’t take no for an answer. Go explore, try new things, fail a bunch and learn from those moments.