When I was a small girl, I loved the story of Robert the Bruce, holed up in a cave after losing several battles with the English. And watching a spider trying time and again to cross a gap to complete their web. Which encouraged him to try once more, and he went on to win... This is the entrance to the cave he was alleged to have been in...
The point of the story was, he didn't give up, even when the going was rough. And I have always found that heartening, when I have been tempted to give up, when I've tried to do something, and failed, often multiple times. A recent example was when I started to crochet the Persian tiles blanket which I'm just finishing. I *could not* get the hang of how to do clusters. I had looked at a book of crochet patterns... no joy. Six, seven times, and it still looked wrong. Eventually, I phoned a kind friend, and she patiently talked me through the process. Two months later, I've nearly finished it. And I'm thrilled that I persevered.
Okay, that is a trivial example. But I have never regretted giving something a try. Even if I have eventually abandoned whatever it is, at least I tried. If I had never tried, I do believe I would have been lost... because I would never have achieved anything. Failure is always disappointing, sometimes devastating, but I'd still rather try and fail, than not try at all.
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