Last summer, I took a 2 hour ukulele workshop and I absolutely fell in love. While I sucked terribly, it was fun to make music. From that day, I knew one day I would buy a ukulele and learn.

Fast forward to last month, I gifted myself a ukulele for my 21st birthday. It’s not a fancy ukulele but it’s great for a beginner like me. It’s been hard to pick up the cords and make the correct sounds but it’s been worth it. I know that during my boring summer months, I can pick up my ukulele and just strum Twinkle Twinkle Little Star or Happy Birthday. That’s a huge accomplishment for me.

The 3 Lessons I’ve Learned

Trying those things I listed above taught me a lot. I think trying new things is more about what you learn from the experience rather than what you are actually doing. That’s what makes trying new things an important part of life. Here are my biggest takeaways from my recent experiences:

1. Failure is a part of the process

Fear is usually the reason why I don’t try something. I believe my fear stems from not wanting to fail. I want to do something and get it right the first time but that’s not how life works. So I think that if I don’t do something, then there is no way for me to fail. But I need to understand that if I don’t try, then I’m missing out on a great opportunity. It’s the same thing as failing.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to sound like some inspirational quote pulled right off Tumblr but I’ve found that failure is a necessary component to the process of trying new things. It wouldn’t be a learning experience if I didn’t fail at some point.

I am learning to understand that things I haven’t done before aren’t going to come to me naturally. There are very few people who just do something and get it the first time. I just need to accept that failure will be there and that it’s okay. Failure is a part of life, and it shouldn’t stop me — or you — from doing things.