If at first you don’t succeed, persevere and try again

The first time you try something new chances are you won’t be any good at it. That’s just the way it is. I remember the first time I rode my bike without training wheels. I fell off and skinned my knee. The first time I learned how to drive a stick I almost crashed into the only pole in an empty shopping mall parking lot.  During my first aerobics class my nerves were so bad that I felt like I was going to vomit the whole time. We all have stories of firsts and some of them aren’t pretty. But in order to succeed at anything we have to fail a lot, persevere and eventually we master it or learn a lesson from it.

My most memorable first has stuck with me for over ten years because I learned about perseverance.  It was the first adventure race I ever did and it was with my husband Brian. The race took place in Invermere, BC and was a three day, two hundred and twenty five kilometer staged event of paddling, mountain biking and hiking with a few mystery events thrown in for fun.  It was the middle of summer and a scorching thirty two degrees. It was day two of the race and up until that point I remember wanting to quit at least five times but it’s the sixth time of wanting to call it quits that stands out the most for me. We had already been on the course for seven hours after finishing the paddle and bike stage. We were now into the twelve kilometer hiking section.

We were walking along a logging road in full sunlight at two in the afternoon. My knuckles dragging on the road like an ape because I was hot, tired and grumpy. We trudged along for about an hour when the course veered and took us through a meadow. Standing there, nibbling on the green grass were black and white milk cows. It was a peaceful scene and I was taking a moment to enjoy it when all of a sudden and seemingly out of nowhere a bull cow the size of a Buick with large pointy horns turned and started chasing us. We stood stunned like a deer in headlights and then started to run for the gate at the end of the meadow with a crazy bull cow grunting and chasing us. Gasping for air from the sprint I turned to Brian and wheezed, “That’s it, I’m done, I can’t go any further, I quit, I don’t want to do it anymore.” I expected him to talk me out of it and I was prepared to defend my decision but he just said, “Okay”. No arguments, no guilt trip, just okay.

An hour after cow experience, we arrived at a check point and I was relieved to be done. Just as I was about to tell the official I wanted to quit another couple came walking up. The girls’ clothes were covered in dirt, she had scrapes on her arms and legs and blood dripping from her chin. I was sure they would be ending their adventure there too and I felt a sense of relief that it wasn’t just me having a tough time of it. I watched as they checked in and then set off again. She never said a word. I secretly hated her for not quitting. How could I quit now. I wasn’t bleeding. There wasn’t anything physically wrong with me except that I was tired.  I never said a word to the official or to Brian. I mumbled a few choice words under my breath, checked in and trekked on and finished the day.

I had thoughts of quitting a few more times on day three but I never gave into them. The race was hard and it didn’t get any easier but I never gave up even though a little voice inside me kept telling me that I should. I felt such a sense of accomplishment completing the race because of the mental challenge that it posed. To be honest, I wasn’t really satisfied with my first attempt at adventure racing so I trained hard and the following year entered the race again in the solo women’s division. To my absolute amazement I finished in third place. If I had quit the race on day two and not persevered I know I never would have attempted it again the following year. I never would have stood on the podium and felt what it was like to earn a third place finish. I would have never completed more races and most importantly the only thing I would have learned was that when the going got tough, I quit. Instead, I learned the success and perseverance are closely connected and it’s a lesson that to this day I have never forgotten.

I truly believe that the more you fail at something the greater chance you have for success. It’s not when we are successful that we grow as individuals but through our failures. If you look closely at people who you believe to be successful they will tell you about the many failures they’ve had. Your next great success lies in your next monumental failure. So if at first you don’t succeed, persevere and try again because your next great achievement is only a few failures away.