“Our business in life is not to succeed but to continue to fail in good spirits” Robert Louis Stevenson

As a high school student, Alex was used to hearing about the importance of success. His parents, teachers and peers all encouraged him to work hard, get good grades and achieve his goals. But Alex had always struggled with this pressure to succeed. He was a perfectionist and he found it difficult to accept failure.

One day, Alex came across a quote by Robert Louis Stevenson, “Our business in life is not to succeed but to continue to fail in good spirits.” At first, he was confused by these words. Wasn’t success the whole point of life? But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that Stevenson was onto something.

Alex began to see failure in a new light. Instead of being something to fear, it was an opportunity to learn and grow. He started to take risks, to try new things and to accept that he might not always succeed. And when he did fail, he did so in good spirits, knowing that he was one step closer to success.

Years later, Alex was accepted into his dream college. He had worked hard, got good grades and achieved his goals. But he knew that his success was not just the result of his hard work. It was also the result of his willingness to fail, to learn from his mistakes and to keep giving even when things seemed difficult.

As le looked back on his high school years, Alex realized that the quote that had inspired him so many years ago was true. Our business in life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits. Because it is through failure that we learn, grow and ultimately succeed.

Special Tevaga is a Year 10 student at St Mary’s College. This literary piece written by her won her first place in the Year 10 English category of the Samoa Observer Short Story Competition.