Tries to Treasure
The Try Doesn’t Always Sparkle
Tries are not failures. They are valuable information; they are the stories of what has not worked or “sort of” worked. Take heart, Albert Einstein did not get everything right the first time either.
Einstein was immersed in a challenge, looking for a solution.
- The inconsistency between the concepts of space, time, and the speed of light was a challenge to him. Were space and time absolute or was the speed of light constant? Which was correct? As the story goes, he was on a streetcar when he realized space and time were relative to the speed of light. He said, “A storm broke loose in my mind!”
I wonder how many ideas he tried before his “Eureka”? How many ideas did he try, test, and have failed? These parts of the creative process:
- A thorough understanding of the problem
- Knowing hasn’t worked
were neither recognized nor romanticized. The groundwork didn’t make headlines. Even in my descriptions, I went straight to the aha!
“We learn from failure, not from success” — Bram Stoker
Not all problems are as big as the theory of relativity. In my life, I have embraced the celebration of trying. Here are my everyday examples. The first is, “How might I eat more plant protein meals?” The second is “How to approach writing articles like this after a career in academic writing?”
Increase Intake of Plant Protein
Healthy eating is important to me. For a while, I attempted The ½ Cup Habit. The challenge is to eat a half-cup of chickpeas, beans, lentils, or dry peas (aka pulses) three times each week. I was successful for about a year. When I went to the office every day, pulses were my lunch. I ate them five days a week. Since I have retired, I walk rather than eat at lunchtime, and my legume intake has diminished. My goal has changed to at least one plant protein dinner each week, and I have been successful. In trying to eat more plant protein, I have curated recipes that match my taste, and it was in trying new recipes that I found them. Yes, there were failures, and peanut butter sandwiches came in handy on those evenings.
Writing
I have started many essays that just haven’t worked. I don’t delete files or my tries, and I don’t look at the files disparagingly. I look at them as my treasure. They are ideas that I have tested, and for whatever reason, they were quite right. Maybe —
- I was on a deadline, and the essay needed more research.
- The atmosphere was off, and I wanted it to be less preachy.
- It was too personal, and I am not ready to tell that story — yet.
The push for more and better ways to connect thoughts and ideas is where the magic occurs. It is in the push, the deconstruction, recombination, and building of innovative ideas. This is creative to me. It is not the first easy try; it is the press for permutations and the blending of former ideas.
I save my essays that are clumsy and recipes that don’t work (I will never make a chickpea pizza again). I don’t call my attempts failures. I call them the beginnings of journeys. They are the humble trailheads, the stepping-stones of the new path I am on.
