I am stubborn-just ask my family-but it’s not such a bad thing. In fact, stubbornness is a blessing when you’re trying to learn a new skill, recover from a tragedy or live in a world that refuses to return to normal. Another word for stubbornness is grit. If you are too stubborn to give up, and you’re pursuing a goal that makes you and your world better, grit is the glue that puts all the pieces together.
Since my last blog, I have found some acceptance after days where tears were a possibility at any moment. I spent a lot of time with my knitting and my fluffy dog, waiting to feel my grit return. And slowly I feel some resolve gelling, like an aspic without the soggy vegetables.
I talk, A LOT, to my volleyball girls and their parents about grit, because it’s a necessary component for a successful career, on or off the court. Parents must let their kids fail in order to flex their grit muscles, and that develops grit in the parent, as well. Allowing our kids to feel uncertainty and disappointment is the hardest job we have, but it is necessary to prepare our kids for real life, when we aren’t there to pick up the pieces for them.
That’s the thing about grit, it only develops when the chit hits the fan. You don’t gain grit from sunshine and rainbow days, running through fields of daisies with a soundtrack of violins. You gain grit when the unthinkable happens, and your reality expands to include tragedy and pain alongside joy and giggles. Life isn’t one or the other, it’s both tragedy and joy,
I know I will return to my bubbly, goofy self again, just not any time soon. Until then I rely on my grit, and slowly, slowly return to a new kind of normal.
XO
Terri
P.S. If you need some help with strengthening your grit, drop me a line at terrif@findyourpride.org or go here for information on coaching: https://girlpowerforgood.org/life-coach/
