Teen Times:So, I recently found out that I wasn't accepted by Oxford. No big deal, right? Wrong. This was something I really wanted, something I was willing to give up experiencing university with my friends for, something that made me consider repeating sixth year, when I found out, writes Meadhbh Áine O'Flaherty.

However, the more I thought about it, the more I realised that it wasn't not being accepted that upset me, but rather that other people would know that I hadn't been accepted.

I feared looking like a failure in other people's eyes. Honestly, I think I feared seeing myself as a failure.

It's no surprise, really, because today's society has made us all believe that, in this world, if one cannot succeed then one might as well not exist at all.

We value people by the rank they hold in work or the size of their bank balance. Failure isn't an option, because it simply isn't tolerated.

We neglect to see that sometimes it is failure which makes us better, stronger and, in the long run, more successful people. We fail to see that sometimes there is an upside to failing.

I don't believe there are many people who realise the prospect of failure quite as well as I, and indeed the thousands of

other Leaving Certificate students, currently do.

I'm constantly told, don't fail maths or you won't get into university, don't fail geography or you won't get enough points, don't fail the Leaving Cert or your life will be over. Okay, so I'm exaggerating slightly, but you see my point.

Despite knowing internally that even if I do do poorly next year the world won't implode, I still fear failing the exam. I still lie awake at night twisting and turning as the hours become days and that dreaded exam moves ever nearer.

In life, there are so very many things to fear - wars, spiders, other people. Yet we get up every morning and persevere with living our lives, so it baffles me why we let the prospect of failure defeat us.

Here's my question, why do we fear failure? Do we fear it because we've been taught to or because we believe we should? Do we take ourselves out of the game before it even starts for fear of failing?

Nelson Mandela once said, "As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others".

We all fear, that much is obvious, but recently, I have come to realise that it is not failure which we should fear but rather never having tried in the first place.

Well, I've realised something else as well: I should've applied to Cambridge!

Meadhbh Áine O'Flaherty (18) is in sixth year at Scoil Mhuire, Rathstewart, Athy, Co Kildare

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