Square one

The start square on a board game.
(Photo: Breakingpic/Pexels | Text: David/ArtisanEnglish.jp)

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WotD: Square one

Life is a process of learning from your mistakes and, in some cases, returning to square one only to begin again.


Square one refers to a new beginning or an opportunity to restart an endeavour, but this time, we are armed with new knowledge.


There is no doubt in my mind that when you were a cute, little, tiny, chubby baby, the first time you tried to walk, you fell on your butt.

Here is a question for you: when was the last time you fell on your butt?

It’s been a while, hasn’t it?

You see, returning to square one paid off.

As a baby, you felt no shame in falling down, getting back up and trying again.

That process was repeated innumerable times until you mastered the skill of walking.

That success was built on multiple failures.

Congratulations!

If you could return to square one, then why can’t you do it now?

Well, we humans tend to judge ourselves by the success of others.

We are nervous about what total strangers will think of us if we fail.

As a result, we are embarrassed to admit our attempt to do something was unsuccessful.

It’s as if returning to square one is somehow acknowledging that we, ourselves, are a complete failure.

It isn’t.

Returning to square one is not a sign of failure.

On the contrary, it is a sign you have learned and are willing to use that knowledge to try again.

That is something of which you should be proud and for which you should be respected.


Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test

This post is understandable by someone with at least a 7th-grade education (age 12).

On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 73.

The higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100, the easier the passage is to read.


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