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Liam P. Main
Mrs. DeVoe
English 4
October 27, 2016
Reflective Essay
Ive experienced failure many times in my life before, but nothing like what I experienced
in high school. High school was definitely a wake up call for me, and showed me the reality of
higher education. I failed making good grades during freshman and sophomore year, and it
affected my record not only negatively but permanently as well. There were many problems that
led to my failure, but I learned from it and changed over time gradually.
The first problem of failure was procrastination, and I still struggle with this problem but Ive
been learning ways to counteract it. Procrastination was a major problem freshman year, and it
only made my situation worse because I didn't fully understand the importance of high school.
There were a lot of problems that created procrastination for me like xbox, longboarding, and
hanging out with friends. All of these activities would distract me from completing my school
work. I overcame procrastination as much as possible by putting my school work before these
activities.
The second problem of failure was lack of motivation, and it affected my early high school
career extremely negatively. Lack of motivation was a major problem freshman and sophomore
year, but thankfully overcame this by learning the negative effects the hard way. A lot of different
problems led to my lack of motivation like ignorance, no clear path, and other things being on
my mind. All of these problems led to my lack of motivation, and severely impacted my learning
record in high school. I eventually overcame my lack of motivation by realizing how I was
impacting myself and my teachers negatively.
The third problem of failure was me being in the process of finding myself. Finding myself was
definitely a failure in the process, because I was focused on other things other than school work

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but eventually led to the road of developing who I am. A lot of questions and confusion led me to
finding myself, because I was focusing on things that I thought were more important than school
work. I overcame my confusion slowly but surely by figuring out what I need to do and how I
need to do it, and realizing things of importance. As a good friend once said to me, realization
is enlightenment (Timothy V.)
In conclusion, Ive experienced failure many times before in my life but Ive thankfully overcome
obstacles that were once in my way. Problems that I was dealing with severely affected my
grades, but if I didn't overcome those problems I wouldn't be the person I am today. Im glad that
I have dealt with these problems earlier on in my life rather than having to deal with them now or
in the future.