Determination has helped me to get to where I am today, not only my own determination but that of my family. My parents certainly needed determination from the time I was born right up to when I became an adult (and beyond!) I always remember both my Grandad and my brother also instilling determination into me. My Grandad would routinely tell me that there was no such word as ‘can’t’ and if I asked my brother to help me do something which he knew full well I was able to do, he would make me do it myself. At the time I thought he was being mean, not wanting to help me, but in fact it was the opposite – tough love.
I need determination in most, if not all, aspects of my life. From the big things – when I was struggling with working full time but yet continuing until a more suitable job came up. To the small things, such as writing this blog – I wrote what I thought was going to be a post last week but I found the subject which I was trying to write about was too bland. When I kept re-reading it I wasn’t happy so I scrapped it and started again!
Since living on my own I have needed to be determined in order to do things which I struggle with. A very small example is opening tins. I always found it difficult to open a tin using the ring pull so I used a electric tin opener. I found that for some reason although it worked perfectly on certain tins it did not work on all tins. Wanting to get the contents out, so I could get my dinner before bed time! I tried opening it using the ring pull and to my amazement it worked. I can therefore now use the ring pull but as a back up I have my electric tin opener.
Even when I am doing fun activities I need determination. I remember when I was a Brownie and then a Guide we often went up to the an activity centre. Not wanting to miss out on the fun, I discovered I was able to abseil and I could even go pot holing. It was far from easy but I probably got more satisfaction from coming out alive than any other Brownie/Guide did. Getting my bronze Duke of Edinburgh award also required a huge amount of determination, even to this day I remember thinking to myself, after my practice expedition, ‘why oh why did you even think of doing this.’ Despite my expedition being tailored to me (we probably only covered half of the normal distance in two days, which most people needed to cover in one day) it still remains one of the most challenging things which I have done. Needless to say I most definitely did not attempt to do my silver award.
Like most things in life, there is always a thin balance and in the case of determination, it is about having enough in order to achieve success but not having too much, meaning that you push yourself too far.
Be Aware Be Clear 