PERSISTENCE
I am a self-professed “wordie” – which is a word I thought I made up until I googled it. Apparently, it was added to the dictionary in 2018, when it became one of about 850 new words added that year. A wordie is someone who loves words. Duh. (In case you found that hard to figure out.)
I discovered this early in life, so it is definitely a part of who I am. I like reading, writing, learning new words and love finding the exact right word to describe something. I guess I also like old sayings and quotes, because I found tons of them when cleaning out my desk. (Yes, that slowed that job down substantially.) At any rate, I will share a quote each blog at the end. I hope they inspire you the same as they have me. And it forces me to clean out my desk yet again. Sigh. It can be painful since that is also where I keep bills and most paperwork.
I would like to explore a word each blog, and let’s start with my dad’s favorite: persistence. He kept this quote on his “desk”, a battered old wooden table where he smoked, drank beer and worked on construction plans after hours. I suspect the best thing about this desk was that it afforded him privacy from his wife and five kids, since it was in an old log cabin attached to our house. Except his youngest still found a way to interrupt and generally be annoying. Maybe that’s when he first became drawn to the word persistence. haha About the only other thing found at this table was where he tracked sunrises and sunsets, which I found to be intriguing. I liked to see that point where daylight becomes longer than the darkness, and still enjoy that today. But back to persistence – very important concept there. He obviously thought so too. Nothing can take the place of it. If we persist, we will find a way. I expanded it later in life to – if Plan A does not work, go on to Plan B, C, D (you get the point). Hopefully we don’t have to get into mid-alphabet!
There is more than one path to a destination. Maybe somewhere along the way, we realize this thing is not worth pursuing. That happens. We can chalk that up to learning….won’t go down that path again. But if it is, we keep going. We are relentless. We don’t quit. We keep that desire forefront and up-close in our heart and mind. We take even small steps towards it.
Yes, there are times we have to change direction. Maybe our compass was a little off (maybe it even went haywire!), but we can self-correct at any time. Coming up against an obstacle or a challenge is testing what we are made of.
Overcoming it tells us we are made of strength. And it strengthens that muscle each time we use it and succeed.
The quote always seen at my dad’s work space:
“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not: unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated failures. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”
- Calvin Coolidge