There are definitely many areas in which I failed during this semester, but one example that comes to mind is the "crow" pose in yoga. I started doing hot yoga at the Orlando Power Yoga studio a few months ago to increase my flexibility, posture, and lower body strength. I still can't do the crow pose that well, but in the first few classes I literally fell on my face, but now a few months later I'm able to hold the pose for about 3-5 seconds on average. There's a picture of someone doing the crow pose below.

I've learned that in order to accomplish certain things, there are pre-requisites that must be met. In this example, I have to have certain levels of mobility and flexibility in certain areas of my body, core strength, and overall balance and body control. This idea reverberates to many other aspects of life. I already knew that a foundation must be set in order to build a strong structure, but this practice of yoga has made me look at this idea in a more practical way so I can take the necessary steps to build stronger foundations in all areas of my life.

I definitely see failure as being hand-in-hand with progress. I actually discussed this exact topic in my Portmanteau post. Here's the link:

http://damethestoic.blogspot.com/2016/06/to-benefail.html

Since I think of failure as a necessity of progress, I do not get very disturbed emotionally when I fail at something. This class has definitely reinforced my thoughts on failure as well, so I think I'm more inclined to take risks, especially since I believe that we should take more risks when we are younger because we just might hit a huge success, and also because if we take risks now and fail, we will have time to recover, so there will be no permanent damage. It's pretty much the same as the common principle used in portfolio management in which a financial adviser will suggest a certain level of risk depending on one's age.