I love the word tenacious. This word defines many essential, valued qualities that are necessary for the world we live in today. To be determined, have a firm hold of something, and steadfast in the pursuit of our happiness and goals one must be tenacious.
During the month of September is it both of my daughters birthdays. This is probability what brought the word tenacity to my mind. My girls are very different creatures. There are like a true venn diagram. There are some qualities they have in common and some qualities not so much. One amazing quality they share is they are both tenacious.
Now that they are “adulting” as one may say, their tenacity continues with them which makes this momma proud. They are three years apart. While I continue to see them persevere in their lives, the examples I will share date back to their high school days.
When my eldest daughter was in the spring of her junior year in high school she became sick. She had no energy, was sleepy all the time, lost weight, could not focus. Her doctors could not figure out what was wrong. She had always been a sports person. Soccer, basketball, tennis where the sports she playing throughout her high school years. This unknown illness continued into her senior year. Her fall sport was soccer. She was on the team, unable to play. Yet she went to every practice, every game to cheer her teammates on. Often during practices she would fall asleep. What was important to her was to support her team, even though she could not play. While we were continuing to figure out her medical issues (she was finally diagnosed with a absence seizure disorder) her tenacity kept her pursuing doing things that made her happy. Despite feeling physically horrible she refused to stop supporting this team which had value and meaning for her. She was and is one tenacious person.
My youngest daughter always begrudgingly participated in some school sports. She did enjoy tennis and would sail outside of school. In the fall she would do cross country. Our family does NOT have people with any running speed. If you look up the word slow you might see in small print our names. Regardless of this my kid choose to do cross country. She liked her teammates, coaches, and bettering her time. I remember at one meet all the girls had completed the course. My daughter was no where to be seen. The coaches apologized to me that they would need to start the boys race. In cross country the girls run first and they boys run second. I kept my eyes on the course and then saw my kid still running. Despite the fact that all of the other girls had finished the course, she was running to finish the race. She did not quit. She keep going. She finished her race. This is tenacity.
I believe we all have tenacity in us. Yes ALL OF US. Sometimes it may feel buried, hidden. We all have it. So next time there is something you want to stick with dig deep. Keep going towards is important to you to accomplish.
The movie “Finding Nemo” has a great quote from Dory. She was giving a pep talk to Nimo’s father Marlin:
“She sings, “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming.” That’s Dory-speak for keep on truckin’, keep the faith, and keep your eyes on the prize.”
May your tenacity be with you💜
Photo by Robert Baker on Unsplash
