A mentor of mine often shared stories of great soldiers and army commanders. He once said, “The greatest military commanders lead their soldiers out of the bunker without hesitation. They never looked back, embraced the struggle and ran headfirst onto the battlefield. Our greatest leaders do this, too.” College is meant to be a time to embrace your struggle headfirst and discover your battlefield.
Throughout college, I was at war with myself; my fears were interfering with my ambitions. It was my fear of failure that inhibited my goal to run for SGA president. I was paralyzed with fear, and I failed to recognize that there had been several women in my shoes before me. The spring of my junior year, I felt overcome with defeat; I placed my head on my desk and decided not to run. I was too afraid to speak up and ask for help. My reservations isolated me, and my self-doubt blinded me from the reality that I wasn’t alone.
However, I learned that you can find your passion through failures. I’ve lost many battles, but the ones I’ve won were on the shoulders of my peers. There will be a defining moment during your time here when you’re going to fail. You’ll lay on the ground, tired, defeated and in complete darkness. But you should never be afraid to embrace failure. Determination will pick you up off the ground and bring you out of the darkness. It will guide you through the battlefield and lead you to the top of the hill to win the war.
You aren’t alone either because battles aren’t won alone. We need to embrace our collective struggle, as it has become an essential component of the human experience, and build our community at the Capstone. By working together to overcome our fears, we can create a sense of belonging for one another and simultaneously carve a path for those who follow in our footsteps.
When I was forced to overcome adversity, I learned that our capacity to express vulnerability and empathy are the two most crucial assets on our paths to greatness. About a year ago, my teacher asked me to get up in front of the class and participate in a trust fall. I fell back into the arms of my peers and for the first time I understood the power these two emotions garner. By working together, my peers embraced my pain and failures. They brought me back onto my feet and built the platform I stand on today.
You need to embrace your struggle, you need to fail over and over again and you need to feel vulnerable. Because when you finish climbing your hill and look down on the battlefield, there will be a soldier waiting for you to give them a hand and lift them out of the darkness. Although there may be many battles to fight, when we work together as a community and embrace our struggle, we can always win.
Brielle Appelbaum was the president and founder of the UA chapter of the American Association of University Women and is the recipient of the 2014-2015 Morris Lehman Mayer premier award.
