Sometimes things just fail.
- Camilla Young
- Jul 26, 2024
- 1 min read
I hear so many people saying ‘we need to embrace failure’ and ‘fail fast’, and everyone seems to agree that's a good idea.
But there's little acknowledgement of what that actually involves.
It’s been a really tough year on the allotment, the cold wet spring meant seeds just didn't germinate and the army of slugs destroyed anything that did show signs of life.
Week after week we’ve shown up, planted and re-planted.
It sucked.
There was no benefit to failing, I haven't learnt anything major about the growing process and failing has not got me to success any quicker.
It’s a lesson in tenacity and optimism. You have to learn to keep going, even when there's no success on the horizon.
I must have sown about 20 courgette seeds, and these came from the one plant that made it all the way. 8 of my 12 cauliflower plants failed. This is the first one I’ve ever harvested.
You don't get to see the failures, just the smiling face and the veg that made it through.
Maybe it’s time we just admit that failure, whilst totally natural, is pretty miserable.
We don't need to ‘celebrate failure’ but we should celebrate those who endure it.
Because without persevering through failure, we don’t get to taste success.
