I went for a run today, to start some serious training for a 15k race next week. Being the courageous idiot I am, I did the whole 9 miles after not training for god knows how long. After the fourth mile, it felt like utter SHIT. Let me tell you, the body finds devious ways to try and make you quit running. Why'd I keep going? I had time to build up to that distance, and in all likelihood I was doing more harm to my body than good. I'll tell you why I kept going - because I'm through with quitting. I'm not going to disappoint myself any longer. If I set a goal, I'm going to go through with it no matter the cost.
When I got home, I read most of the ending to "Breaking Night." In it, the main character grows up in the ghetto and loses her mother to AIDS. Her father ends up in a homeless shelter and she's left to fend for herself, skipping the first two years of high school in the process. In the section I read, Elizabeth takes four years of high school in two years' time - resolving to get a solid A average by the end of it. As with anything, this resolution was easier said than done - but she did it. She didn't want to live in the ghetto anymore, not since she saw what life was like in the Suburbs and Downtown Apartments of her wealthy classmates. She chased a dream, and she got it, earning herself admission to Harvard on a full scholarship.
The road she took to get there was hard. She had no permanent home while going through school, and often slept in stairwells or at friends' houses. She had to take part-time jobs in order to buy herself food and clothing, and she took twice the number of classes than what was required, so that she could earn a year's worth of credits in a semester. She was chronically sleep deprived. But even with all that, she found a way to make her dream happen, and today she manages her own company, which is based on helping others to empower themselves.
If she could do it, so can we.
Never give up.
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