Snowboarder Brenna Huckaby Explains Why ‘Failure Isn’t Real’

The Paralympian shares some personal development advice that has rung true for her.

Brenna Huckaby at the 2022 Women's Sports Foundation Annual Salute To Women In Sports Gala.John Lamparski/Getty Image

Paralympic snowboarder Brenna Huckaby has been through her fair share of failure. The 26-year-old opened up about the topic of personal development in a TikTok post, sharing some advice that she reminds herself of every day.

“A little something that I’m trying to remind myself of daily is that people become overnight successes over about 10 years,” she explained. “Well, maybe not 10 years exactly, but you don’t become an overnight success overnight.”

The three-time gold medalist continued, “You put in the work, you put in the time, you put in the effort. And then boom, things start to click.”

Often when people talk about their success stories, they sweep the failures they underwent along the way under the rug. Huckaby has been open about her blips in the road. But there are lessons to be learned from all those low moments.

“Maybe they won’t blow up one day, (but) at least you learn something about yourself,” the mom of two added. “You learn what you like, what you don’t like, what you’re good at, what you never want to do. Again, you can take that knowledge with you to make a better informed decision in the future. When people tell you that failure isn’t real, that’s kind of what they mean.”

Huckaby revealed to SI Swimsuit that her lowest point, ironically, was when she won two golds at the 2018 Paralympics. She expected to be at her happiest but what she felt instead was a build-up of all the stress leading up to that moment. The silver lining of that particular “failure” was that it compelled her to start going to therapy.

“The best way to get those big dreams and big goals is to take small little steps of the long term,” she finished. “I know it’s cliche, but it’s so true.”

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