When I was young, which now feels like so long ago, my grandfather stopped by with a children’
s dictionary. For all intents and purposes, the dictionary was just like any other however, it held a lesson that has never left me. It has at times been
dormant but with the right inspiration I found it again.
Deep in the pages there were a few words that had been redacted. He did this not to say that the words didn’t exist but rather that they limited people that used them. As a young man I took this message to heart and assumed that there simply was an error in the printing that my grandfather had fixed.
As time would go on, and challenges were presented, struggles endured, and failures stacked up I would begin to get defeatist. I would call out in frustration, “I can’t do this, it’s impossible.” In support of my grandfather’s lesson, my dad would simply ask me to look up can’t, and impossible in the dictionary.
As a naïve young man, not realizing that those where the words stricken from the English language, I tried and failed at that too. Those words simply didn’t exist in the dictionary. The idea that something was not possible was a fallacy. To say you can’t do something meant you were giving up.
I was taught at an early age that giving up was tantamount to accepting failure and just a form of laziness. Real men don’t give up but instead persevere through adversity to accomplish a task. That isn’t to say that there weren’t times where that concept was lost on me.
Plenty of times I accepted failure but only for a time, later to regaining my footing and pushing through to accomplish the long-term goal. One of my biggest missteps was during my high school years. I dropped out, left, gave up and decided not to pursue my education.
Eventually, through some deep soul searching I eventually got my General Education Diploma but decided at the time that was all the further that I wanted to go. Many years went by of working menial hard physical labor jobs, retail, or in restaurants. Then while working in retail, I met my wife and realized that a real man, provided for those he loved, that through work you provide security.
I however lacked the self-confidence to continue my education however, through the gentle encouragement and rock-solid support from my wife, I eventually found my way into a trade school. Samantha helped to build me up again, and I eventually got my Associates degree in Computer Aided Drafting and Design.
She was the catalyst and the idea of never giving up lesson that my grandfather tried desperately to instill came full circle. She was the one that ultimately led me back to that frame of mind. Without her helping and rebuilding the confidence I had lost I would never have made the leap and restarted my journey in education.
After graduating from trade school, Sam found me a position as the designer for a local college and through continued encouragement and support, I have obtained my BA and MBA.
Sometimes, inspiration can come in different forms, or from different people, but the underlying current remains the same. The people that love and care about you encourage you, build you up and inspire you to never give up.
I have a hard time thinking that I can’t do anything anymore. Remembering that dictionary and the encouragement of my wife always remind me that there is more than one way to do something. That if you set your mind to something, anything, you can accomplish it. It may not be in the way you initially thought you would. It may be a different path, the one less travelled, but by surrounding yourself with the right people. You can accomplish anything.
Moreover, you can decide to be the person that helps to build, rebuild, or establish that foundation for someone else. Your encouragement, inspiration, and support can lead to someone else’s success. My wife and boys are my inspiration.
My only hope is that I can instill the lesson that can’t and impossible only exist if you are willing to succumb to them.
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