Failing Harder

Failing Harder

Frank Vincent February,16,2024 Failing Harder Failure has never been something I stray away from, while laziness often stopped me from giving my all to things. I've loved skating but struggled to focus on it since I was a kid. Whenever I tried tough tricks, I'd often quit halfway through. Starting when I was only ten years old. Every time I would get close to landing a difficult trick I'd give up, sometimes even in the middle of an attempt. This mindset caught up to me when I was skating street spots near Oval Skate Park trying to land tricks back to back. It was a boardslide down a handrail to then ollie down five stairs after. I was having difficulty getting the tricks back to back because I wasn't fully committing. Slam after slam onto the floor, I began to concentrate less and less. I felt myself being lazy. I know the effort I put in wasn't my all. It was an extremely frustrating process. I could normally do the tricks by myself but while trying them back to back I couldn't land them. During my last attempt, I kicked out at the last second causing me to land on one of my feet. All pressure and weight pushed onto the foot, completely fracturing the bone and breaking it in 3 places. I never thought my laziness would put me out of skating. I was then in shock and adrenaline kicked in. My foot aching and feeling swollen so I decided to skate home with my broken foot and give up not being able to finish the trick. Skating home with a broken foot wasn't the worst part. I just kept playing the event back in my head. I kept telling myself “If I was fully committed I would have landed it.” Once I got to my house my mom saw how swollen my foot was and instantly took me to the hospital. Waiting to find out how badly my foot was broken felt like forever. All I could think about was the constant idea of me not pushing myself. Luckily I didn't break anything else but my foot and my pride. I couldn't skate for months while my foot healed. During those months inside I had so much time to think about my failure. If I had just landed it earlier without kicking out my foot wouldn't have been broken. I'd have been able to walk without being stuck inside a room. I hated how much I felt I could have done better knowing myself. “Next time I'll come back better,” I’d tell myself. It felt like for months I was physically blocked from doing anything I wanted to do outside and was forced to only do inside activities. During the second month of being home, I adapted to being inside and more productive, learning how laziness was just a mindset and could be pushed through with perseverance. The foot I broke has since fully healed and I was able to return to skating. My mindset now makes me push myself to try on anything I set my mind to fully. Pushing myself has been one of the greatest things I could have done putting in all my effort into multiple internships I've taken with having to be able to build a website for a company. If you’re going to do something, put 100% of yourself into it. The best outcome only is achieved when you put the effort in to learn and fully commit.