Failure In The End Will Only Make You Stronger

Failure In The End Will Only Make You Stronger

- Isabelle Westbury

We live in a world of fast-moving consumerism and have attention spans purportedly lasting less than those of goldfish. Expensive consultants advise us not to write anything of importance beyond the first paragraph of an email, as this is all that will be read.

Cricket is not immune to this phenomenon, with the rise of big, bold and brash T20 leagues threatening the existence of the long-held pinnacle, fiveday Tests. It is therefore surprising that Aesop’s Fables, written more than 2,000 years ago, should still resonate today; that the tortoise, slow, steady but determined, might persevere over the faster, dashing, but arrogant hare, continues to hold many truths.

This is seen in sport at junior levels and seems logical. Adolescence reaches individuals at different stages and early progress can be misleading. Diminutive figures who might struggle at first must find creative ways to withstand the onslaught from peers twice their height; Joe Root succeeded through timing and a mastery of the short ball. Initially disadvantaged, it is often these figures who persevere. Tales of professional footballers being shunned at schoolboy level before leading highly successful careers elsewhere is common. Kenny Dalglish, Alan Shearer, and Ruud Gullit were all roundly rejected by clubs in their teens; they now bask in the pantheon of footballing greats.

Once sportsmen and women are more established however, or at least fully-grown adults, patience becomes less of a virtue, more of a vice. They are expected to perform, and when the returns aren’t immediate, it becomes problematic, often on account of money, or lack of it, being generated by those that fail to immediately capitalise.