• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 06:45
CEST 12:45
KST 19:45
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Code S RO8 Preview: herO, Zoun, Bunny, Classic7Code S RO8 Preview: Rogue, GuMiho, Solar, Maru3BGE Stara Zagora 2025: Info & Preview27Code S RO12 Preview: GuMiho, Bunny, SHIN, ByuN3The Memories We Share - Facing the Final(?) GSL47
Community News
BGE Stara Zagora 2025 - Replay Pack2Weekly Cups (June 2-8): herO doubles down1[BSL20] ProLeague: Bracket Stage & Dates9GSL Ro4 and Finals moved to Sunday June 15th13Weekly Cups (May 27-June 1): ByuN goes back-to-back0
StarCraft 2
General
Code S RO8 Preview: herO, Zoun, Bunny, Classic The SCII GOAT: A statistical Evaluation Jim claims he and Firefly were involved in match-fixing DreamHack Dallas 2025 - Official Replay Pack BGE Stara Zagora 2025 - Replay Pack
Tourneys
[GSL 2025] Code S: Season 2 - Ro8 - Group B [GSL 2025] Code S: Season 2 - Ro8 - Group A RSL: Revival, a new crowdfunded tournament series SOOPer7s Showmatches 2025 Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament
Strategy
[G] Darkgrid Layout Simple Questions Simple Answers [G] PvT Cheese: 13 Gate Proxy Robo
Custom Maps
[UMS] Zillion Zerglings
External Content
Mutation # 477 Slow and Steady Mutation # 476 Charnel House Mutation # 475 Hard Target Mutation # 474 Futile Resistance
Brood War
General
FlaSh Witnesses SCV Pull Off the Impossible vs Shu BW General Discussion BGH auto balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ StarCraft & BroodWar Campaign Speedrun Quest Will foreigners ever be able to challenge Koreans?
Tourneys
[BSL20] GosuLeague RO16 - Tue & Wed 20:00+CET [ASL19] Grand Finals NA Team League 6/8/2025 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues
Strategy
I am doing this better than progamers do. [G] How to get started on ladder as a new Z player
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread Beyond All Reason Path of Exile What do you want from future RTS games?
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread UK Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Vape Nation Thread
Fan Clubs
Maru Fan Club Serral Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Korean Music Discussion [Manga] One Piece
Sports
2024 - 2025 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion NHL Playoffs 2024
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
A Better Routine For Progame…
TrAiDoS
StarCraft improvement
iopq
Heero Yuy & the Tax…
KrillinFromwales
I was completely wrong ab…
jameswatts
Need Your Help/Advice
Glider
Trip to the Zoo
micronesia
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 28292 users

Why do I feel like I am a failure?

Blogs > Rudolph
Post a Reply
Normal
Rudolph
Profile Blog Joined July 2011
United States161 Posts
May 04 2013 03:30 GMT
#1
Hello Teamliquid, just another one of my blogs.

So my junior year of high school is almost over. It has been such a stressful time for me. I have had so many after school activities that I participate in. I am the varsity goalie for soccer, in theater, part of robotics, choir, and in the National Honors Society.
In soccer, we made it to the district finals for the first time in school history. I have a lead in the musical, and this was our first year for robotics which went very well. My grades slipped a little by about .2, so not a big deal. I am in the advanced choir and we made it to state solo and ensemble. I took the ACT and received a 26. My goal was a 28, but a 26 gets me into the university I want.

Yet, with all of the success I feel like such a failure. I've been so stressed about my grades that I considered dropping theater. I feel like I could have done so much more this year, and yet I don't know what. I am so stressed about the end of the year, yet I don't know why.

Maybe it is because I have reflected on my past and wish I did more. I wish I spent that extra hour after practice on the soccer field. I wish I developed better study habits in middle school. I wish I could have worked on time management before reaching high school. I just think what COULD have been if I put a little more effort into what matters most to me. Once I reached high school I realized the importance of that extra hour of practicing and studying. I realized I need to manage my time better. I realized too late though. It hit me and knocked me on my ass.

Now that my junior year is almost up, I know that I can't reach what I want because of this. I can't play soccer at a good college, I can't get into top universities, and I can't get good parts in musicals. I just feel like such a failure, and writing this out definitely makes me feel a little better.

Thank you for taking the time to read TL

*
blabber
Profile Blog Joined June 2007
United States4448 Posts
May 04 2013 04:02 GMT
#2
colleges like extracurricular activities
blabberrrrr
jrkirby
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
United States1510 Posts
May 04 2013 04:15 GMT
#3
Because no matter how good you are, you always know you could be better. And it's true, you always have more potential. But just because you could be better doesn't mean you should get yourself down. You should tell yourself how awesome you are.
rift
Profile Blog Joined September 2007
1819 Posts
May 04 2013 04:15 GMT
#4
for some reason i can't empathize. please step back and get some perspective on how good your life is.
docvoc
Profile Blog Joined July 2011
United States5491 Posts
May 04 2013 04:34 GMT
#5
Ok, I'm gonna be honest with you right here. I was in your position, grades took a small slip, nothing huge, tons of after school activities, worked on a political campaign as an intern for an important congressman, the whole shabang. TAKE THE ACT OVER AGAIN AND GET A 32; I'm not kidding. That is what fucked me over, and it will fuck you over too. This year that was a lot of what mattered, next year it will too. College rankings have become a big thing and now that U.S. news and world report has changed the rankings, you need a great ACT, your grades, everything doesn't matter nearly as much as your score now. You need a 30 dude, I'm not joking here. Your life may be great, but you need the whole package if you want to be highly competitive. You might feel unsuccessful now, but you will feel great if you get into your favorite college.
User was warned for too many mimes.
ZeromuS
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
Canada13389 Posts
May 04 2013 05:01 GMT
#6
You are simply realising that you want to master something but can't master everything at once.

Instead of telling you what to do specifically, I think you should look up the stages of mastery. Read through it and realize everyone goes through similar feeling, and try to figure out what to do.
StrategyRTS forever | @ZeromuS_plays | www.twitch.tv/Zeromus_
ktimekiller
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States690 Posts
May 04 2013 05:38 GMT
#7
On May 04 2013 13:34 docvoc wrote:
Ok, I'm gonna be honest with you right here. I was in your position, grades took a small slip, nothing huge, tons of after school activities, worked on a political campaign as an intern for an important congressman, the whole shabang. TAKE THE ACT OVER AGAIN AND GET A 32; I'm not kidding. That is what fucked me over, and it will fuck you over too. This year that was a lot of what mattered, next year it will too. College rankings have become a big thing and now that U.S. news and world report has changed the rankings, you need a great ACT, your grades, everything doesn't matter nearly as much as your score now. You need a 30 dude, I'm not joking here. Your life may be great, but you need the whole package if you want to be highly competitive. You might feel unsuccessful now, but you will feel great if you get into your favorite college.


If you are in the states, I would consider a less stressful route. Go community and transfer.

Initiative
Profile Joined July 2011
United States131 Posts
May 04 2013 06:02 GMT
#8
Honestly if your still in high school, you have no idea what success and failure is
Roe
Profile Blog Joined June 2010
Canada6002 Posts
May 04 2013 06:06 GMT
#9
The first times you feel like a failure will indicate how you deal with failures through out your life. Use these opportunities to construct a resilient mindset.
Abductedonut
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
United States324 Posts
May 04 2013 06:32 GMT
#10
I can't imagine how many students like the OP stress out on something so unimportant as school. I also can't understand why people take it so seriously. Stressing out to get good grades and into good schools... Maybe it's just me, but my time spent in school taking classes that were not related to my major was laptop + study my major time. And I went to a great school (ranked #9 for engineering). And I did well in those classes because I picked professors I knew would be easy.

Maybe you feel like a failure because you haven't devoted time to actually learning anything in depth. Most people I know are like this. Do you actually have a skill - something that you've devoted your free time to and have an honest mastery in? Or do you simply do what's required of you and cross your fingers and hope it will all be good once you're in a good college? This "as long as I get good grades i'll be fine" attitude? I've got nothing against diversity, but diversity for the sake of diversity is pointless. My suggestion to you is focus more on what you want to become. Once you realize that X is what you want to do, you will stop worrying about silly things like soccer (unless that's what you want to do, in which case you'll stop worrying about musicals).

Let me also just say - maybe this advice is a little too sage for a high school student. I honestly can't recall my mentality in high school, but what I've come to realize in the working world is that nobody cares about your extracurriculars, they want to see that you actually know what the hell you're doing.

And also - I think this is a good time to learn opportunity cost. Every second you spend wasting time doing something is time you can spend getting better at what you actually want to do.
Carbonyl
Profile Blog Joined August 2012
United States334 Posts
May 04 2013 07:16 GMT
#11
There's no point in killing yourself with all those extra-curriculars if you're going to be burned out by the time you get into whatever university you want to go to. Figure out which parts you enjoy, and which parts you can cut out. You don't have to be superman to be happy, OR to get into the school you want to go to. Grades are probably more important than your 4th extra curricular.

Also I agree with docvoc on retaking the ACT, and maybe the SAT. Always take them at least a second time, you're pretty much guaranteed to do better. I went from a 1950 (or maybe it was 1970?) to a 2120 on my second time around. Definitely worth the few hours and $100 bucks or whatever to bump it by 10%.

But seriously. Stop stressing out. Figure out what you can cut out, and then cut it out.
It takes quite a long time of playing and watching a video game before you realize how bad at it you really are.
_fool
Profile Joined February 2011
Netherlands676 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-05-04 07:49:42
May 04 2013 07:47 GMT
#12
I had a similar stressful time, in college. What really worked for me back then was saying "no" once in a while. Part of feeling "a failure" is in the fact that there is always more to do, things you missed, etc. Once you take the liberty to say no to yet another plan, you create time to finish things up to your own standards. In my case that gave me great peace of mind.

Just my 2 cts. I never really took part in the rat race
"News is to the mind what sugar is to the body"
B.I.G.
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
3251 Posts
May 04 2013 08:08 GMT
#13
Thinking about what could've been will drive you crazy little bro.. Try to focus on things you still have control over like the present and future...
PassionFruit
Profile Blog Joined April 2012
294 Posts
May 04 2013 08:48 GMT
#14
You're contradicting yourself in our own post. You say you have success, but you're a failure because you can't get into a good school, play soccer in the school you wanted, theatre, etc... My guess is you're saying you succeeded when measured by the lay peasant metric but failed against your own high standards.

So in essence, to put it quite bluntly, you feel like a failure because you think you failed. This might sound like a facetious statement...but it's not. It's actually pretty simple. The only way to fix this problem is to change your perspective. Regardless of how amazing a person may be, there will always be something he can focus upon to make himself think he's an utter piece of garbage. If Superman had such a shitty mentality he'd think he's a failure since he gets pwned by a green rock.

It's all about perspective. It'll change with each experience, and hopefully for better than for worse. It really depends on you.
Randomaccount#77123
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States5003 Posts
May 04 2013 12:30 GMT
#15
--- Nuked ---
Passion
Profile Joined December 2003
Netherlands1486 Posts
May 04 2013 12:46 GMT
#16
In highschool and already stressed out...

Stop caring about good colleges. Figure out what you care about yourself, and focus on that.
anatase
Profile Joined May 2010
France532 Posts
May 04 2013 13:27 GMT
#17
On May 04 2013 14:01 ZeromuS wrote:
You are simply realising that you want to master something but can't master everything at once.

Instead of telling you what to do specifically, I think you should look up the stages of mastery. Read through it and realize everyone goes through similar feeling, and try to figure out what to do.



I second this.
Then I say you should also sleep more: feeling of failure is often related to depressive mindset but most of the time this can be easily handle by more sleep.
Fatigue is an all-killing machine. Since you're doing so many things maybe you lack some sleep AND some rest overall.
Taking some rest and perspective will probably increase your sense of success or lower by a lot your sense of failure.

Now you need to find something to focus on. A passion

It could explain why you feel you're failing.
You may be doing tons of things and you suppose it should be satisfying. But if you feel you failed, then it means you did not live up to any expectations. Meaning then your expectation does not lie on these activities but maybe on another one, the passion you're missing and you should focus on.


Passion is a fucking huge driver to everything imho. If you checks around, people with passion often outrank and outclass people without one. That's because their passion probably helps by emptying their mind when focusing on their passion





Rudolph
Profile Blog Joined July 2011
United States161 Posts
May 04 2013 13:34 GMT
#18
Thank you for all of the advice guys.
Thor.Rush
Profile Joined April 2011
Sweden702 Posts
May 04 2013 16:13 GMT
#19
You live in the american culture (i grew up there too), where 'more' is better.. Everything is about competition and becoming #1 (i.e. better than everyone else). There's upsides to this american way of thinking, but there are also serious downsides; enormous pressure and stress being one of them. Life is really short and you gotta have a balance between being serious/hard-working and being completely relaxed/not giving a fuck. Going to a good university is important, but it's not like "ok, i'm not going to get into a top university so i'm not gonna be happy and successful in life"..in fact, you could end up being more happy and successful after going to a low-end university..you never know. You shouldn't regret not spending an extra hour on soccer or whatever.. have a more relaxed attitude on life or you won't enjoy it!
TLDR: Be serious and work hard, but don't take everything TOO seriously. Have no regrets.
| SaSe | Naniwa |Stephano | LucifroN | Mvp | MarineKing | ByuN | Polt | MC | Parting |
SupplyBlockedTV
Profile Blog Joined September 2011
Belgium313 Posts
May 04 2013 20:13 GMT
#20
Just do what you are passionate about, dont do the stuff you do because of other reasons.
PEW PEW PEW
WalkinDead
Profile Blog Joined February 2013
88 Posts
May 04 2013 21:33 GMT
#21
You are a junior in high school, a couple yaers younger than me. I just "finished" my first year of college. On the last day of school right after my last class, I was kicked out and suspended. I get no credits for completing the semester and I now live at home with my parents, but I don't feel like a failure.

Don't look for regrets in your past, look for opportunities for the future
Normal
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
The PondCast
10:00
Episode 50
CranKy Ducklings52
Liquipedia
GSL Code S
09:30
Ro8 - Group B
Zoun vs TBDLIVE!
herO vs Bunny
Crank 328
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
Crank 328
Lowko184
ProTech104
MindelVK 24
StarCraft: Brood War
Calm 10706
Sea 3247
Hyuk 1978
Shuttle 870
actioN 451
Mini 399
EffOrt 326
ZerO 316
Stork 249
Soulkey 185
[ Show more ]
Light 162
Last 122
Zeus 121
Pusan 116
JulyZerg 64
ToSsGirL 58
TY 49
sSak 45
Sharp 39
hero 33
JYJ31
Noble 22
NaDa 18
Nal_rA 13
HiyA 10
Movie 10
zelot 8
Barracks 5
ivOry 3
Dota 2
XcaliburYe771
BananaSlamJamma477
boxi98347
Fuzer 250
XaKoH 157
League of Legends
JimRising 471
Counter-Strike
Stewie2K1148
shoxiejesuss1045
kennyS519
allub164
Super Smash Bros
Westballz10
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor208
Other Games
singsing1890
C9.Mang0625
Happy547
XBOCT422
crisheroes399
DeMusliM241
Mew2King143
Organizations
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Secondary Stream5094
StarCraft: Brood War
Kim Chul Min (afreeca) 1067
Other Games
gamesdonequick560
StarCraft: Brood War
lovetv 7
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 13 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• Airneanach8
• iopq 1
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Other Games
• WagamamaTV158
Upcoming Events
OSC
10h 15m
Replay Cast
13h 15m
OSC
13h 15m
WardiTV Invitational
1d
OSC
1d 2h
Korean StarCraft League
1d 16h
SOOP
1d 22h
sOs vs Percival
CranKy Ducklings
1d 23h
WardiTV Invitational
2 days
Cheesadelphia
2 days
[ Show More ]
CSO Cup
2 days
GSL Code S
2 days
Rogue vs TBD
TBD vs GuMiho
Sparkling Tuna Cup
2 days
Replay Cast
3 days
Wardi Open
4 days
Replay Cast
4 days
Replay Cast
4 days
RSL Revival
4 days
Cure vs Percival
ByuN vs Spirit
RSL Revival
5 days
herO vs sOs
Zoun vs Clem
Replay Cast
6 days
The PondCast
6 days
RSL Revival
6 days
Serral vs SHIN
Solar vs Cham
Liquipedia Results

Completed

CSL Season 17: Qualifier 2
BGE Stara Zagora 2025
Heroes 10 EU

Ongoing

JPL Season 2
BSL 2v2 Season 3
BSL Season 20
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 2
NPSL S3
Rose Open S1
CSL 17: 2025 SUMMER
2025 GSL S2
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 7
IEM Dallas 2025
PGL Astana 2025
Asian Champions League '25
BLAST Rivals Spring 2025
MESA Nomadic Masters
CCT Season 2 Global Finals
IEM Melbourne 2025
YaLLa Compass Qatar 2025
PGL Bucharest 2025
BLAST Open Spring 2025

Upcoming

Copa Latinoamericana 4
CSLPRO Last Chance 2025
CSLPRO Chat StarLAN 3
K-Championship
SEL Season 2 Championship
Esports World Cup 2025
HSC XXVII
Championship of Russia 2025
Murky Cup #2
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual
IEM Cologne 2025
FISSURE Playground #1
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.