The conflicting messages that come with being a teenager in 21st century America can be startling. We are told to try new things, to fail – all success begins with failure, right? And yet, the second that we step out of line, or ‘fail’ for the first time, our future is thrown right in our faces, and suddenly, failing is not an option. That is, until it’s motivational speech time and the adults decide that failing is a necessary part of life, something that everyone has to go through in order to learn and grow and mature. And yet, once our ‘failures’ begin to affect them, we are reprimanded severely. So where is the line? If we fail too much, we are disowned, and seen as, well, failures (which, despite the new pro-fail movement, is still not considered a term of endearment). If we don’t fail at all, we’ve somehow cheated, or had things handed to us, skated through life.

Through this, I’ve come to the conclusion that all we can do as teenagers is try. Not try to succeed, not try to fail – just try. Work hard, explore new things, investigate new ideas – try. No one can go into adulthood as a success or a failure, all we can be is a person trying at life - trying to find our futures, our careers, and ourselves.

So don’t go out into the world and succeed. Don’t go out there and fail. Go out there and try.