The title of this photo
became the title of this post.
These last 18 days have been quite the upward struggle for me. It has made me reflect on a lots of wonderful things that have inspired me over the years when times get tough. I have thought so much about how much I want to learn family history and share it with others because I find so much joy in it. The idea of sharing is a natural out cropping of finding something worthy to give in hopes of bringing that kind of joy to others. Naturally not everyone feels the same way. Sometimes that realization can bring even more challenges in the pursuit of your dreams.
I've learned a lot about my learning curve in the past several years. I know that when I take on something new it requires a lot of my energy, time and concentration to move forward. But every time at a given point what was so difficult becomes easier if I am persistent in my pursuit of it. This knowledge has been a comfort as I have struggled with new things pertaining to my new volunteer position with The Family History Guide, as their social media coordinator and creating a new 90 minutes lesson to present this past Saturday.
I have spent many many hours pursuing things that should have been easy. As an example, I have created several PowerPoint presentations in my day. The one I did for my Saturday class took days and was ladened with technical and technology problems up until the night before the presentation with computer problems, etc.
I tried to learn as much as I could about the social media things I'm doing. Setting up a Twitter account which should have taken five minutes landing up being hours and hours. I learned there are complications with relaunching a Twitter account from the past, having up an old personal Twitter account and creating new one. I watched so many tutorials that I finally was able to figure it out. I have felt like my feet were stuck in hot tar this week. Everything moved so painfully slow.
Many things came up over the past couple of weeks that were just everyday life things that ate up my discretionary time. We had out of state guests that we enjoyed very much, that came to dinner the day of my class because it was the only day available in their short stay. Jim's poor mom needed two root canals yesterday and I needed and wanted to be with her, and the list goes on and on. These were both great things to do but needed to be squeezed into our lives somehow. Months and months ago we invited our siblings and cousins to a mini-reunion this coming Saturday. I better get on that now too.
These are not big things but there just wasn't the buffer time in my schedule for all of the unexpected surprises. There has seemed to be a constant interruption to everything I was trying to do. You know how that is, we've all been there. Last night we were taking a breather after I finally got the Twitter page running. Not ten minutes into that relaxing time I got an email about something else I needed to do and research by today. I had to squeeze in mini-meltdown into my schedule.
The point I am trying to make is that when your dream becomes a nightmare you have decisions to make. Live the luxury life of retirement or gather the grit it takes to keep going and not give up or quit when the going gets rough. Then with perfect timing these two things came into my life in the past 24 hours to adjust my sails.
One is the article by James Tanner that I have posted below and the other this precious little flashback photo of our granddaughter, Hazel, when she was tiny, that Jen posted on Facebook.
I've learned a lot about my learning curve in the past several years. I know that when I take on something new it requires a lot of my energy, time and concentration to move forward. But every time at a given point what was so difficult becomes easier if I am persistent in my pursuit of it. This knowledge has been a comfort as I have struggled with new things pertaining to my new volunteer position with The Family History Guide, as their social media coordinator and creating a new 90 minutes lesson to present this past Saturday.
I have spent many many hours pursuing things that should have been easy. As an example, I have created several PowerPoint presentations in my day. The one I did for my Saturday class took days and was ladened with technical and technology problems up until the night before the presentation with computer problems, etc.
I tried to learn as much as I could about the social media things I'm doing. Setting up a Twitter account which should have taken five minutes landing up being hours and hours. I learned there are complications with relaunching a Twitter account from the past, having up an old personal Twitter account and creating new one. I watched so many tutorials that I finally was able to figure it out. I have felt like my feet were stuck in hot tar this week. Everything moved so painfully slow.
Many things came up over the past couple of weeks that were just everyday life things that ate up my discretionary time. We had out of state guests that we enjoyed very much, that came to dinner the day of my class because it was the only day available in their short stay. Jim's poor mom needed two root canals yesterday and I needed and wanted to be with her, and the list goes on and on. These were both great things to do but needed to be squeezed into our lives somehow. Months and months ago we invited our siblings and cousins to a mini-reunion this coming Saturday. I better get on that now too.
These are not big things but there just wasn't the buffer time in my schedule for all of the unexpected surprises. There has seemed to be a constant interruption to everything I was trying to do. You know how that is, we've all been there. Last night we were taking a breather after I finally got the Twitter page running. Not ten minutes into that relaxing time I got an email about something else I needed to do and research by today. I had to squeeze in mini-meltdown into my schedule.
The point I am trying to make is that when your dream becomes a nightmare you have decisions to make. Live the luxury life of retirement or gather the grit it takes to keep going and not give up or quit when the going gets rough. Then with perfect timing these two things came into my life in the past 24 hours to adjust my sails.
One is the article by James Tanner that I have posted below and the other this precious little flashback photo of our granddaughter, Hazel, when she was tiny, that Jen posted on Facebook.
Hazel has spina bifada and her little body struggles. She is paralyzed from her ribs down and has lots of other issues. One day when she was about this age, I was at their home when the traveling physical therapist came to work with her. The things that are bigger than these physical problems for Hazie are her amazing spirit, personality and character.
Hazie loves babies. Her dolls have always been very important to her. So in the session the therapist put her on her tummy on the hardwood floor. Then she placed Hazel's beloved baby doll just out of reach. She would have to do the military crawl with her arms in order to reach her baby. The distance was probably about 18 inches between her outstretched little fingers and her baby.
The therapist began to coach her and persuade her to go for her baby. With a struggle like one rarely sees, that little girl pulled herself a few inched, put her head on the floor and she and cried, saying, "I just can't do it." The therapist let her rest but kept persuading and comforting her, while persisting with the admonition for Hazel to move forward. Again she struggled and gained another inch or two. She cried some more, slapping her hand on the floor and said, "NO! I can't do it!" After a rest she kept on.
By this time Jen and I were both teary-eyed and encouraging her to keep going. Finally she reached her goal and grabbed her precious baby. She was elated! What a wonderful and beautiful life lesson on never giving up! We've been through a lot of tough things watching Hazel's journey, but I can tell you that as her grandmother, that was one of the toughest and most poignant of all.
So when I think about giving up, I can't. When I feel frustration and discouragement with technology or people or situations I want to keep going. I will keep struggling until it happens. That moment when you can say, I didn't quit and I made it to my goal is worth the struggle. I carry on because I cannot let a nightmare interrupt my dreams. I can't ever forget Hazie's struggle. I have to do what I have to do. We all do! So keep on keeping on...it is so worth it!
Hazie loves babies. Her dolls have always been very important to her. So in the session the therapist put her on her tummy on the hardwood floor. Then she placed Hazel's beloved baby doll just out of reach. She would have to do the military crawl with her arms in order to reach her baby. The distance was probably about 18 inches between her outstretched little fingers and her baby.
The therapist began to coach her and persuade her to go for her baby. With a struggle like one rarely sees, that little girl pulled herself a few inched, put her head on the floor and she and cried, saying, "I just can't do it." The therapist let her rest but kept persuading and comforting her, while persisting with the admonition for Hazel to move forward. Again she struggled and gained another inch or two. She cried some more, slapping her hand on the floor and said, "NO! I can't do it!" After a rest she kept on.
By this time Jen and I were both teary-eyed and encouraging her to keep going. Finally she reached her goal and grabbed her precious baby. She was elated! What a wonderful and beautiful life lesson on never giving up! We've been through a lot of tough things watching Hazel's journey, but I can tell you that as her grandmother, that was one of the toughest and most poignant of all.
So when I think about giving up, I can't. When I feel frustration and discouragement with technology or people or situations I want to keep going. I will keep struggling until it happens. That moment when you can say, I didn't quit and I made it to my goal is worth the struggle. I carry on because I cannot let a nightmare interrupt my dreams. I can't ever forget Hazie's struggle. I have to do what I have to do. We all do! So keep on keeping on...it is so worth it!
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