I was just in a conversation where someone pointed out that a community, like the Stan community, can be intimidating for newcomers because the most visible members are portrayed by mostly their successes. Allow me to make it clear that my own successes lie on a heap of failure.

Failure is integral to the learning process, and most of us earn our successes by first failing in increasingly novel ways. If you're not failing then you're not learning, and if you're not learning then you're not improving.

When failure becomes a source of embarrassment, rather than an opportunity for learning, then you limit how quickly you can grow. To best develop your skills find a community where you feel comfortable trying and failing, and talking openly about those failures.

Anyone who tries to shame you for failing is an asshole and won't contribute to your learning; don't give them the luxury of your time or attention.

At the same time it's only by identifying and acknowledging your failures that you can evolve, so scrutinize your own work and accept feedback from others who volunteer their time to help you that process.

Just remember that, just like how everybody poops, everybody fails. And if you want to be healthy then you should probably do both daily.