Girl on Fire: How I Learned to be Brave
Learning to be Perfect
Learning to be a Failure
At 27, my life stopped for me. I went through a divorce. My teaching career didn't work out. I stopped trying to achieve anything. If I couldn't be perfect, why try to do anything at all? My confidence and self-esteem was broken and I was afraid to take any new step forward in my life. What if I failed again?
In her video "Real GirlTip # 8: Get Out of Your Comfort Zone." Rachel Simmon's comments that although she was used to being a "good girl" failure helped her realize that "the world wasn't ending when I made these mistakes." As I drifted in and out of my days, I soon realized this too. I had failed miserably at perfection, and yet the world was still revolving.
Learning to be Brave
It wasn't enough however just to realize that it was okay to fail. I also had another important lesson to learn. I was still floating through my days unsure what my next steps should be, when a friend gave me a lesson I had missed out on all my life. His advice: just have courage. He observed that the worst that could happen if I had the courage to try something new was that whatever it was I tried didn't work out. The same outcome would happen if I didn't try. So, he reasoned, why not just have the courage and try? His logic is similar to Rachel Simmon's in her videos where she states that she learned that she "didn't have to be perfect. All I had to do was try." Reshma, who started Girls who Code in 2012, gives a similar reason for why she believes girls should be taught to code. "Coding, it's an endless process of trial and error, of trying to get the right command in the right place, with sometimes just a semicolon making the difference between success and failure." Coding, in effect, teaches girls that they only need to try.
Reshma Saujani recounts a similar personal experience in her Ted talk. In 2012, she decided to run for congresswoman and she lost. She uses this experience as the opening to her talk because it was then she realized that at 33, that was her first experience doing something without worrying if she would be perfect at it. For her, it was her first act of bravery. The first time she was only worried about trying.
In the TV series Game of Thrones, Danerys Stormborn becomes The Mother of Dragons, when she steps into a raging bonfire. The fire become symbolic of her inner fire and bravery. In the movie Hunger Games, Katniss earns the nickname "Girl on Fire", for her dress, but the nickname also comes to symbolize her inner fire, her determination, and her courage.
Reshma Saujani recounts her "Girl on Fire" experience in her Ted talk. In 2012, she decided to run for congresswoman. Although she lost, she uses this experience as the opening to her talk because it was then she realized that at 33, that was her first experience doing something without worrying if she would be perfect at it. For her, it was her first act of bravery. The first time she was only worried about trying.
For me, my first act of bravery was deciding to join a poetry workshop and entering my poetry in contests. I ended up winning 3rd place honorable mention my first year entering and won first place the next year. In 2015, my next act of bravery was deciding to return to school for Software and Web Development, where I have been learning to code.
As Reshma states in her Ted talk it takes bravery to code:
"Code breaks and then it falls apart, and if often takes many, many tries until that magical moment when what you're trying to build comes to life. It requires perseverance. It requires imperfection."
In my coding class this semester, I am doing so well, that my professor has nicknamed me the "Girl on Fire." It is a nickname I have embraced. For me, it has not just become about being brave, but also about a determination that I can now recognize in other women.
This is a determination we have not to be perfect, but instead to be better women than we were yesterday. To leave a better world for tomorrow. And to teach each girl, how to be a Girl on Fire.
Reshma Saujani recounts a similar personal experience in her Ted talk. In 2012, she decided to run for congresswoman and she lost. She uses this experience as the opening to her talk because it was then she realized that at 33, that was her first experience doing something without worrying if she would be perfect at it. For her, it was her first act of bravery. The first time she was only worried about trying.
Learning to be a Girl on Fire
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Reshma Saujani recounts her "Girl on Fire" experience in her Ted talk. In 2012, she decided to run for congresswoman. Although she lost, she uses this experience as the opening to her talk because it was then she realized that at 33, that was her first experience doing something without worrying if she would be perfect at it. For her, it was her first act of bravery. The first time she was only worried about trying.
For me, my first act of bravery was deciding to join a poetry workshop and entering my poetry in contests. I ended up winning 3rd place honorable mention my first year entering and won first place the next year. In 2015, my next act of bravery was deciding to return to school for Software and Web Development, where I have been learning to code.
As Reshma states in her Ted talk it takes bravery to code:
"Code breaks and then it falls apart, and if often takes many, many tries until that magical moment when what you're trying to build comes to life. It requires perseverance. It requires imperfection."
In my coding class this semester, I am doing so well, that my professor has nicknamed me the "Girl on Fire." It is a nickname I have embraced. For me, it has not just become about being brave, but also about a determination that I can now recognize in other women.
This is a determination we have not to be perfect, but instead to be better women than we were yesterday. To leave a better world for tomorrow. And to teach each girl, how to be a Girl on Fire.
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