Remember how everyone always tells you that you learn the most from failures, not successes?

That may be the case, but failure is still not something to strive for. A failure every now and again is not a disaster. You learn to suck it up and pick yourself up to continue moving forward.

Dwelling on past failures, though, can spiral out of control in a downward trajectory toward rock bottom. Still, you can be successful without hitting rock bottom.

Everyone is human; we make mistakes, show emotion and then hopefully move on with life. Failures are failures. Yes, they suck. But it’s essential to learn how to deal with failure in an efficient way; otherwise, after a certain amount of failures, the brain will metaphorically shut the body down, dissolving any remaining motivation to test the balance between failure and success.

The ceiling does not stop growing even though you might. You can achieve something greater. Success gives you drive and a target to shoot for. But you still do need failure. People who are perfectionists go through life unwilling to have failures or be a “failure,” except this prevents them from seeing their full potential. They may have experience from triumph, but because they have never seen anything wrong with themselves, they are stuck in an idealistic mind where everything is surrounded by a false sense of security.

On the other end of the spectrum, people should not be content with always failing; you lose hope and the drive to persist through failure to glory.

In the end, a person needs a balance of success and failure in order to reach his or her goals. Even the strongest person needs success. Yes, you can learn a lot from your previous failures, but do not underestimate the power of success. The feeling of success feels good, so why not chase it?

Lucas Robbins is a member of the staff at El Diablo, the Durango High School student newspaper. His parents are Jeff and Denise Robbins of Durango.