Perseverance
Perseverance is something I have been taught and valued from a very young age. I have been in every sport you can think of; softball, soccer, tennis, basketball, or basically anything you can think of. In any of these sports, having the quality of perseverance is important in every game. I play basketball, and in a specific game we played against the best team in the state. To our surprise, we end up going into overtime with them, and then on to sudden death. The other team first took a shot and my teammate rebounded the ball, immediately passing it up the court next teammate. I ran as fast as I could to the end of the court and I set my feet as I called for the ball. My teammate passed it to me, I shot, and the ball went in the hoop. We won the game! If it wasn’t for my teammates never giving up, we wouldn’t have won the game.
Perseverance is defined as the persistence in doing something despite how difficult it will be to achieve success. This is shown in sports, the workplace, school, and everyday life. Showing continued effort for success is an extremely important quality to have in any situation and will get you very far in life. Each person goes through their own individual daily struggles, but the essence of perseverance is finding the strength to keep going even if you feel like you will fail. The moment you decide to give up is the moment you truly fail.
For the first time, I have been placed in the accelerated math class. Throughout the semester, I’ve been struggling a lot to keep up with the smart kids. I specifically remember one section being especially tough for me and I don’t understand the material. I decided to stay after class to ask my teacher some questions, and I started crying because I have been so frustrated and I didn’t understand the material she was trying to explain. My teacher immediately took me into the other room and sat down with me as she calmed me down. I remember her being so supportive and told me that I was in that class for a reason and if I kept working hard and never gave up, I would be rewarded. We then made a plan to stay after school a few days a week to study together so I can get extra help. She gave me motivation to not give up on myself so easily. As I studied harder, I ended up with a good grade and more confidence in school overall.
The word “perseverance” has so many meanings to it and is an admirable quality, but not so easy to obtain. It takes a lot of patience and strength to overcome struggles and keep moving forward. When I view someone who is persistent throughout their life, they are automatically a tough person in my eyes. You create a habit out of it, and you need to have a lot of self discipline which isn’t so easy.
Up until this point, a really significant moment in my life has been receiving my license. I was counting the days until my sixteenth birthday, and when I finally got my learner’s permit, I wanted to drive all the time. I had gotten pretty good at it and when the test neared I generally felt pretty confident. My dad suggested we should go practice parking for a few weeks up until the test and thankfully we did. The first couple of weeks, I was absolutely terrible and ended up in tears at the end of almost every time we went to practice. I remember telling my dad the week before my scheduled test that I didn’t even want to take the test anymore because there was no point; I was never going to be able to pass since I couldn’t park. He told me parking takes a lot of practice and that I couldn’t just stop trying, so we went to practice a lot more. As I continued to practice a lot more consistently for the next week, I was starting to be able to park without hitting the poles as much. Although I wanted to give up, I ended up parking perfectly on the test so I was really thankful for the amount of practice I put into it.
