Son,
We live in a world where everyone has, at some point, failed. Where everyone has, at some point, been hurt or scorned or teased or embarrassed.
It’s happened to me plenty and it’ll happen to you too.
When it does, it’ll sting. That’s normal. Your first reactions may not be becoming of the person you want to be. I won’t say this is ok, because you should always try to react with grace, but it’s expected.
What I want to remember, is with a little space to think, you can choose your subsequent actions with a surprising degree of freedom. And these actions make a big difference over the course of your life.
A lot of people aren’t aware that they can choose. They simply act on a default fear-response. Over time, these people preach caution and obedience over achievement, masquerading their fear as wisdom or safety or care. Be wary of this.
I see two common patterns of success from people who deal with failure or pain well: equanimity and defiance. The first, equanimity, is close to simply not caring but on a more visceral level. These people just keep going regardless. The other, defiance, is to take that pain and use it as fuel (think Michael Jordan as the archetype). I’m personally more a fan of the former, but I’d be a liar if I say I don’t use the latter here and there.
Good luck out there, and use that mind of yours to make deliberate choices.
Papa