The quote used in the title of this entry was actually written by Marianne Williamson. Although, you may recognise it as (arguably) the most poignant quote from one of my favourite films - Coach Carter - featuring Samuel L. Jackson. It wouldn't be very honest of me to say that my deepest fear is that I'm powerful beyond measure. In fact, for the last couple of years it's been quite the opposite. I'm not proud of it but passing the first two years of medical school was driven by a fear of failure.
And, to tell you the truth, it's worked thus far. Despite that fact, I don't want a fear of failure to be my driving force to do well anymore. I haven't sat an exam for 7 months - a ridiculously long time for a medical student and not something that I would say that I have a grievance about. Whether I like it or not though, I'm going to be sitting exams throughout my career and so I reckon I'm going to need to find a new approach. Franklin D. Roosevelt famously said, 'There is nothing to fear but fear itself.' I'm sure that his words mean a lot to many but, personally, I never really could relate them.
(Source: http://www.ted.com/talks/jk_rowling_the_fringe_benefits_of_failure.html)
Instead I look to the person who coined the terms 'expelliarmus', 'muggle' and 'quidditch' for an eloquent account of the benefits of failure. Logical. I've decided that sussing out the cause of my fear makes more sense than wracking my brains trying to define fear itself. J.K. Rowling did a stunning job of convincing me that failure is nothing to be scared of. I would recommend that you have a listen too (click on the YouTube link above). Having listened to it I'm feeling pretty positive, but also mildly gutted that I didn't graduate from Harvard in 2008. 'It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default.'
Deep.
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