Advice: Tragedy in not trying

By: Mike Fisher ~Copy Editor~

At times in life, especially in college, we are called to take on a new opportunity that will forever change us. These opportunities appear to us, mostly when we are not expecting it, and we must decide to accept or reject. I like to refer to them as callings.

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Mike Fisher is a copy editor at the Newswire. He is a secondary education graduate student from Toronto, Canada.

The opportunity could be taking on a leadership role on campus, attending graduate school or studying abroad this coming summer. It could be something small, such as moving off campus next year. Maybe none of these are calling you. Maybe the opportunity is something unique only to you and only you know about it. You may be struggling with whether or not to accept this calling because it might be risky, scary or beyond your limitations.

God has presented numerous callings in my life. Ones that have taken me from being a travel counselor to an ESL teacher (English as a Second Language, for those of you unfamiliar with the acronym). They have taken me to living abroad in Russia, Spain and now the United States where I am soon to be completing my master’s degree. I am glad God presented me with these callings, even though many of them were stressful to go through. They changed me for the better, and I wouldn’t be who I am without having taken them.

So if you have been “called” and are unsure of what to do, I have one thing to say: Take it! Take that call, don’t let it pass you by. Yes, it may be risky. Yes, it may not be achievable, but taking risks is part of life. By rejecting your calling you could be missing out on something big. But if you should take it and don’t succeed, don’t worry. At least you tried. If there’s one thing you can take away from my rambling, it’s this quote, which I use as my motto: “It’s no tragedy to try and not succeed, it’s a tragedy not to try.”