Failing With Grace, Rising With Strength

Photo Courtesy: Griffin Scott

By Caitlin Daday, Swimming World College Intern

This is it. Race day. You have done everything you needed to do, there is no turning back now. Behind the blocks you hear the long, clear whistle and step up. Your dive is perfect, you nail your walls, your stroke feels powerful—everything seems just right. But it isn’t. You hit the wall, look at the clock, and it is not what you are expecting. You didn’t get that cut. You didn’t get that medal. You didn’t even get a best time.

You have failed.

Failure. We experience failure in all aspects of life; it is unavoidable. You would think it would get easier, but somehow it never does. In fact, it probably even gets harder. The more dedicated you are to something, the more crushing it is when it does not work out the way you had hoped. Anyone could agree that after thousands upon thousands of yards, countless early morning practices, and myriad other sacrifices, that it only seems right that you should get the goal you have been working so hard for. Hard work is supposed to bring success, right?

There is no easy way to sugarcoat this subject—failing is awful. But does it always have to be? Undoubtedly failure will always hurt in the moment. That instance you look up at the scoreboard, all you will be thinking about is the here and now. All the work you have done has seemingly amounted to nothing, and it feels as though your life has ended.

But let’s be realistic. Unfortunately you did not get what you want, but your swimming career is far from over. Hitting a bump (or even many bumps) in the road is perfectly natural. Just ask anybody who has ever achieved anything. Even when you do hit that bump, in reality none of that work has gone away—after all, you still did it. And that is what you need to keep in mind at the end of the day.

Swimming is a mental game. Positive thoughts alone are not going to make you improve, but a bad attitude will only ever hurt you. The best way to recover from a fall is positivity. Though a bit cliché, it is the truth. Being able to overcome failure requires the right mindset. Without the determination to move past disappointment, it is impossible to get better.

Swimmers (and anyone, really) who succeed at the highest levels are mentally strong. It is a form of survival of the fittest—only the mentally tough survive. In other words, people are only able to achieve the most when they are able to get through tough times by looking to the future. These athletes do not let the failures get to them; rather, they use past failures to drive themselves to get better. Wallowing in disappointment is not going to get you closer to that cut or to beating that rival, but a mind geared to getting back to work will.

Success is not easy. In order to become the athlete that you want to be, you are going to have to face adversity. As one of my old club team t-shirts says, “Adversity leads to greatness.” Like a child learning to walk, you have to fall down a few times before you can reach your goals. The important thing, though, is that each time you fall down, you have to get up—and not just get up, but get up stronger. Going through a rough patch can only make you better, but it is about how you deal with it.

If you use failure as fuel, you will go places. Nothing will stop you. It may take time and a bit of work, but one day you will not only reach your goals, you will shatter your own expectations.

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Jen A.

8 years ago

Great article and true on so many levels over life. Keep up the good work, Caitlin!

Betsy C

8 years ago

Your article hits home on so many levels, not just for competitive swimmers, but for everyone. I love your point that even though you hit bumps in the road, you have still done the work, it hasn’t gone away. Great job, Caitlin!

Jeffrey Lynch

8 years ago

Very nice!

Colleen

8 years ago

Good article. I think that everyone can relate at one point or another. I’m very proud.

christine

8 years ago

beautiful article, so true in life as well as in swimming.