My word for this semester is persistence. From the moment Dr. Giles announced this assignment this word rang in my ears and echoed in my thoughts. I meditated on other words, took surveys, and read devotionals. Still, the word persistence tugged at my heart. According to Webster, persistence is defined as, "the quality that allows someone to continue doing something or trying to do something even though it is difficult or opposed by other people."
I knew when I made the decision to return to school after a two-decade hiatus I would need to create a clear path with an end goal, comprised of structure and parameters along the way. A course of action filled with energy to propel through the trials of sandwich generation-home life and school-work life. While others may imagine the image of someone pushing a large boulder up a mountain as a visual of persistence. I visualize my image of persistence as carrying a full backpack of college textbooks, pulling a teacher cart overflowing with school work, balancing a bag filled with prescriptions and doctors' orders, handling a laptop open to Canvas and a multicolored calendar, and clasping my cellphone haphazardly to my ear.
Overjoyed to be finally engrossed in a graduate studies program I meticulously researched to join for many years, this chapter of my life is engaging beyond measure. I did not want to obtain a graduate degree "just" to obtain a graduate degree. I knew once I dove into this next level of learning I needed to love what I would be consuming endless hours reading, writing, and researching. I knew for me to maintain my persistence, I had to overflow with passion and purpose as I pursued my goals. I also knew for me to pursue my goals determination had to walk in conjunction with persistence. As a result, all those not so little boulders of family and work commitments I was lugging up my mountain had to be placed in the appropriate lanes for me to have a clear path to success. This meant calendars synced at home and at school, as well as family meetings with direct and explicit discussions took place. With all important parties on the same page, I knew I could pull my persistence out of my secret pocket and look down the path to academic dreams.
This journey has not been easy and I do not expect a path of rose petals at any time. My many life commitments are always there, waiting, watching, and sometimes, whining, but my path to pursuing my graduate degree is paved with a multitude of life lessons that have brought me to just this moment. These life lessons fuel my persistence and I would have it no other way.
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