Determination is a key factor in life. It can get us through difficult times, so long as we can focus on getting through, triumphing and moving on. It motivates us to reach beyond a limitation, to make more for ourselves or create something new. We can be determined to survive, recover, achieve, grow, pursue, discover, be.
A few weeks ago, my mother had a partial knee replacement. She is young to have the surgery and will undoubtedly have to have another within the next couple of decades. But she had it because she’s determined to live her life the way she wants. Her determination meant she continued walking as much as she could until the day of surgery came. It means she does every little exercise she’s given and pushes herself to the limit. Because she’s set on having her health and her life back.
My mother is an over-achiever. I used to think I was too. And to some extent I am, but she puts me to shame. Over the past few days I have watched her exercise, do therapy, attempt stairs, carefully navigate a path and move from crutch to cane and even absently forget to use anything to help herself.
As I sat and watched her push herself, get up in the morning and keep going despite pain or resistance from her body, I realized there are fewer limits than we might perceive for ourselves and it pays to keep going forward.
I will take that reminder when school gets hard, when I don’t feel well, when it’s time to push forward. So much like my mother, I hope I can always remember to over-achieve and follow in her well-placed footsteps.
Sidewalk Diatribe
When you live in a city, you tend to walk a lot. Between the traffic and available public transportation, plus huge parking fees, the car doesn’t always get a lot of use. If it’s not your final destination, you’ll be walking to or from the trains to get wherever you’re going.
Match city walking with a northern climate and you reach my least favorite thing about the city in winter. It’s not the cold or wind. It isn’t the darkness. No, it’s the sidewalks. More specifically, it’s the sheets of ice that cover the sidewalk in patches that never were cleared.
Here’s the deal: when it snows, one should shovel. If one doesn’t shovel, the snow gets packed down from foot traffic and eventually morphs into a sheet of ice. And suddenly, walking down the sidewalk a few days after snowfall is tricky.
I headed down the street to watch football with friends on Sunday. And then I would find an icy patch where I would slip-slide away, my feet looking like some Scooby Doo cartoon (you know where the characters start to run away and they aren’t moving but their feet are…). All progress towards the bar was halted and I flung out my arms and tippy-toed across the ice sheet until I made is safely to the area that had been cleared, where I would saunter until I came across the next house, apartment business that couldn’t bust out the shovel.
I don’t know if it happens elsewhere. Truth be told, I grew up with snow problems. But we drove everywhere in Minnesota, and after the snow fell and the roads were clear, the headaches were over. But here in Chicago they keep going. Until spring. So if you see me slipping around town, you’ll know why. And you’ll know I’m not alone.