Like walking for the first time

My baby is currently learning how to walk. I was casually mentioning this at work, being careful not to do any gushing because coworkers without young babies are not always interested in what your baby is doing.

I explained upon further questioning: He takes three steps and then falls, gets up and takes a couple more steps, then falls. We clap for him, and he claps for himself.

My managers' comment, which took me by surprise, was that There isn't any other time in a person's life when others are so happy and encouraging when you fall/fail as when you're learning to walk. And the baby learning to walk is even happy when he falls, because you can see that he just gets up again and tries once more.

This jogged my memory.

I had a teacher once (my flute teacher) when I was a teen and beating myself up for doing badly or not getting it the first time. He told me, 'Look at a little baby learning to walk! Be like that! Does the baby stop trying when he falls? Be more accepting of your failure, because failure is the road to success!'