Lessons in Perserverance
Skiing
A few weeks ago, my family and I headed to the snow for a holiday. None of my children (9, 11 and 14) had skiied before, and neither had I. My husband gave us some direction and on Day 1, for the first hour or two we were a mess. There were tears (theirs) and tantrums (mine) as we worked it out.
It was hard at first. The falling down was hard. The getting up was harder. It was easier for the children - their young, flexible bodies bounced up much quicker than mine. When I fell, I found myself stuck and struggling to contort my body into a position to get back on my feet. After one delightful thud onto the snow, I swear I spent fifteen minutes just laying there wondering if it was really worth it or if maybe I should get my book from the car and go and sit inside! And then I heard "you can do it mum!" from up above. I looked up and saw my nine year old on the chair lift, having mastered this skiing thing in no time at all. It was then that I decided to perservere.
Soon enough, I had it. I was no longer falling, and while I was far from a speedy or highly competent skiier, I could navigate the runs and was beginning to pick up a little bit of speed - enjoying the feeling of weaving my way across the slopes.
Netball
About two months ago, a friend and I joked about starting an indoor netball team. Turns out she was serious and suddenly I found myself - having not played team sports in over 20 years - on an indoor netball court wondering what the heck I was doing. Within 3 minutes of the game starting I was seriously questioning my judgement, hoping I wouldn't pass out, and thinking that I must look ridiculously unfit. But as I looked around at our team of mama's in their 30's and 40's, I realised we were all in the same boat, and we could give up and go home and sit on the lounge, or we could perservere.
We perservered. And we recently (after weeks of defeat) experienced our first two wins (back to back!). But the more important thing is that we are having fun. We are getting better each week. We are beginning to understand more of the rules.
Why should we perservere?
Perserverance helps us get better. It gives us the opportunity to learn something new, to gain skills, to grow strength, to become something or achieve something that we might never have thought we could.
As educators or parents, we may often find ourselves encouraging children to "keep trying" or "try again" or "practice until you get it" or "don't give up", but do we always take our own advice? Whether it's learning how to ski, or working out how to use a new piece of software for documentation, sometimes a little perserverance is required. And sometimes, we don't perservere so well. We give up, or we embrace the concept of "learned helplessness" and allow someone to step in and do it for us.
But, you would have seen children get excited when they perservere and achieve something, seen their joy when they exclaim "I did it!" Wouldn't you want that feeling for yourself?
I would love to hear about what you have perservered with. Was it worth it?!