Try

         Trying: It's something that we're all encouraged to do, something that is engraved into our minds as one of the most necessary and crucial steps in succeeding in life. A scolding parent might accuse her child of not trying- yet nobody doesn't try- as I said, trying is engraved into our minds. People, in fact, may say that they don't want to try, or even, that they're not trying. However, the fact of the matter is not that people do not try. It is actually that people are afraid of doing so.
         Take an average high school student, for example. At one time or another, he is bound to come into contact with an attractive member of the opposite sex. If small talk between the two ensues, even better, for now the boy's interest is more peaked. A little thing called a crush begins to form. The boy begins to think of this female more and more often. He plays multiple conversations in his head, and quite possibly maps out all the ways the conversation can go. He thinks he has the perfect conversation set, yet a few minutes later, thinks of even more possibilities of how this dialogue can play out. Fantasies begins to form in his mind: passionate, perhaps raunchy, fantasies, due to his surge of hormones. The classroom, his house, a hotel, a party; everything is fair game. The female may also enter his dreams when he sleeps, leaving the boy in a state of euphoria, only to wake up and remind himself that it was only a dream. A new day begins.
         Here, he can think in two ways. One, he can tell himself that it'll never happen in real life and he should get over it. A fantasy is a fantasy, after all, and what goes on in his head should stay there. Game over for him; it's probably time to put everything he thought of over to the side. The latter way of thinking, however, is attributed by a sudden increase in confidence: he tells himself that he's going to try and go up to the girl today, attempt to impress her, woo her, conversate, anything in order to give her the impression that he is there and available should she be interested. The day suddenly seems brighter, the mind merrier, and the soul warm.
         He eagerly awaits time to guide him to the golden moment where he and she would be at the same place. During this waiting period, he plays out more conversations, and reassures himself that everything will be just fine. Doubts just slightly begin to surface, but he quickly stomps them out before they could influence him. 10 minutes to go- it's gametime.
         Yet here is the phenomenon that frustrates many- as soon as he sees the girl, however, his self esteem seems to plummet- all of the conversation he has thought of suddenly vanishes. He finds no words to say to her. Perhaps a slight blush begins to dash his face. Here is the heartbreak, here is where everything he had in mind burns to ashes. Truly a pity, everybody wishes that it would never happen, yet it is frequent where a situation like this occurs.
         Why, however, does this happen? Where did all of the effort of planning out this perfect situation go? The idea was perfect in the boy's head, yet that final push- actually trying it out- seemed impossible to do. Perhaps he was afraid of failure? Rejection? Embarrassment? It wouldn't be surprising if that were the case. It can be said that it is human nature to protect oneself first and foremost, so the fear of failure prevented the boy from carrying out his agenda. Perhaps, it is the inner child in us that wants to protect us from a possible fiasco. It is thus that we need to learn that failure is a part of life. We cannot win all of our battles, and we must learn to accept that. Only then can we carry out plans and succeed- failure is another lesson learned, but success seems so much sweeter when obtained.