by Justin Lakso ‘25

We all know that losing sucks. Maybe you got a bad grade on a quiz, maybe you didn’t do well in a sporting event, or maybe it was just losing a bet with a friend. The main thing is, none of these losses are going to affect your life forever. If you told that to a younger me, it would’ve gone in one ear and out the other. I had a bad habit of taking every loss too personally. Academics, athletics, everything else, I wanted to be the best. It caused me to get mad at the smallest things I failed at, and overall just be miserable all the time … unless I was winning.

Around my sophomore year, I came across a video by Bob Ross. For those unaware, Bob is the host of The Joy Of Painting, TV show in the 1980s and early 90s meant to show that anybody could create art no matter their prior experience. I love watching other people create art, so naturally I clicked on the video. What followed was half an hour of some of the best life advice I ever heard.

Bob preaches the ideas of, “there are no mistakes, only happy accidents,” and, “don’t get mad at someone doing better than you, learn from them.” I wasn’t aware of this messaging at first, but then I started watching the show regularly. Ultimately, his advice caused me to really take a look at myself and come to the conclusion that it wasn’t worth the mental stress to get mad at myself all the time.

I’m a lot happier with myself now that I’ve stopped trying to do everything perfectly. Sure, it’s natural to feel a bit disappointed after making a mistake, but how you handle it is much more important. Don’t lose sleep over a bad grade. Don’t tell yourself you’ll quit after a poor performance in an event. Don’t let adversity wear you down. After all, as Bob says, “you’ve gotta have a few dark days to know when the good times come around. If everything was perfect all the time, you’d never get the chance to improve.”