Making is Messy!

Ever heard of the quantum learning phrase, "Failure leads to success?" Well I strongly believe in the statement, yet it is one of the hardest concepts to overcome when met with a challenge that seems "impossible". I've had plenty of successes in my life, but the road was bumpy, jagged, and unpaved in order to get to those successes. Something that comes to my mind immediately when I think of the concept of overcoming failures to lead to success are my experiences as a competitive gymnast. For 13 years, I was a competitive gymnast, making it through level 9 and competing at the varsity level for four years in high school, making it to state and being a top qualifier in sectionals and regionals. These all sound like successes, but there were many injuries and mental struggles along the way. There were two times in my gymnast career where I was about to throw all of my hard work away, but surprised myself by overcoming them and gaining more successes that I thought were unattainable. The first was when I broke my arm in 6th grade. This happened during a gymnastics practice actually. It was a pretty bad break where I was out for three months during competition season. Just taking a week off from gymnastics can affect you enough to loses hard earned skills, so three months felt like a lifetime. I was ready to throw in the towel and give up. However, my passion for the sport and my motivation to challenge myself kicked in when I was finally given the okay to return to the sport. It was not easy to return after that injury as I had lost a lot of my strength and flexibility in that arm, but I put my 100% effort in at practices and tried to go to the gym in my free time as well to catch up to my friends who were able to train for the three months that I was out. It took a couple months, but I was able to catch up and surpass my friends in time for the next competition season. The second time, I had just finished 8th grade and was entering my first year of high school. At this stage, I was so burnt out from gymnastics because of the fact that since the age of 7, I had participated in year round practices 5 days a week for 4 hours each, plus competitions on the weekends. I was breaking down physically and mentally. I made the decision that I was NOT going to do gymnastics anymore, not even in high school. I tried out for the dance team instead. I ended up not making the dance team, and was trying to figure out what I should do. Someone that I did gymnastics with in the past suggested that I try the sport of diving, so I did a summer diving camp and had a blast! I ended up joining the diving team for the fall season, gymnastics for the winter season, and track for the spring season. Even though I was ready to be done with gymnastics I figured I'd give it one more chance with the high school team, and I'm so glad that I did! The high school team was more about the team aspect rather than the intensity of my club team. The practices were only two hours each night and the season only lasted about three months rather than the whole year. I didn't feel as burnt out and since I had such an intensive background, I did really well in the high school competitions! In both of these situations, things were challenging, but I did not give up and ended up have positive outcomes because of it. This is the idea that students and anyone who participates in a makerspace activity need to have. Making is not an easy, simple process. It is meant to be challenging. But through perseverance, collaboration, and creativity, we can find success in anything that we do. Some experiences might find success sooner than others and that is okay. That is what is so fun and unique about makerspace!