When I first met Katie we were in the same class. Even though, I haven’t had many face to face interactions with her, I decided that today I would like to talk to her.
Ever since we became friends we both have shared with each other things about ourselves that can be difficult. I thought that with our difficulties, she could share with me her own stories about determination.
We first caught up on life. While we sat under a blossomed tree on a bench, Katie told me about her own fears and how she is getting over them by doing what she loves. She is going to school to be a veterinarian technician.
She told me about how she got to the point she is at. I mean when we met, she wanted to do journalism. Now, she is sure that her degree is something that she wants to do.
She said, “I’ve had this idea of one of the traditional college degrees. I’m going to get one of those and I’m going to be an English teacher. I’m going to be a newspaper writer. I’m going to be a musician. I’m going to be a theater coach. But I was scared to do what I want to do because it just didn’t seem practical.”
But after she realized that all she wanted to do was become a veterinarian technician she didn’t look back and now has a goal of what she wants to do. Nothing is going to stop her from achieving her goal.
Katie told me that the type of determination that she has now isn’t the same as it was back when she was younger.
“When I was younger, if I couldn’t do something in two or three attempts, I quit because I wasn’t any good at it,” she said. “So people are just scared. I believe that people are scared that they’re going to fail automatically and they just don’t want to try.”
Katie then told me about an experience she had when she was in high school. She seemed to look back on her past with new knowledge.
“Up until I was 15 or 16 I had no determination. I didn’t care about doing things super well. I didn’t want to go to college, I didn’t have a plan for after high school, I didn’t even know if I wanted to finish high school. But then I started talking to a couple different people about life after high school and what’s out there. I became determined to be the best person I can be and if that requires going to school than that’s fine.
“So I started taking my grades more seriously, studying to become a better student,” she continued. “Just becoming a better version of myself because I was seeing this end goal. It was hazy at first but now it’s cleared up and it’s like I need to go after this.”
She enthusiastically joked, “I guess I just needed a kick in the pants,” before she moved on.
“Yes, it is hard. And because of my mental health, that’s something that I struggle with on a daily basis. I will be 100% honest that my level of determination has been struggling lately because of my mental condition because my anxiety is like, ‘what if you can’t do it? What if you do this and you end up hating it?’ But I think that you need to take the plunge and go for it. It is what’s pushing me to do this and do what I am doing.”
Katie and I sat in silence for a moment. Thinking about how determination isn’t really alone by itself. We need perseverance and support in order to really stay determined to make it to the end. After she told me about her struggles and how she has overcome them, I couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“So, I think you need to do what makes you happy,” she ended. “Don’t do it for your best friend, don’t do it for your Dad, and don’t do it for the pizza delivery guy. Just do it for yourself.”
