The Gift of Don't Give Up!

Sunrises remind me of not giving up...  a new day, a new start.
Photo Credit: My husband

Positive Pensées

Kathy King

The Gift Don’t Give Up

“Don’t be afraid to start over. This time you’re not starting from scratch.  You’re starting from experience.”

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It’s okay to start over, to make a fresh path.

When you have tried, toiled, and labored and gone through the drudgery.

Wipe the slate clean as best you can, glean the good bits and start the process again.

How many times have great inventors had to erase all of their work?  

Their process was not bearing fruit, they had to restart the process of labor again.

Only this time when they started, they had the gift of understanding within their command.

These great minds took the useful fragments and crafted a masterpiece by never giving up and starting over.  

This is a great lesson for both you and me. 

It’s okay to start over.  

To begin again.

Even if the starting over takes multiple times.  

Each time you are becoming more full of wisdom, and true tenacity, so that you can craft your great life masterpiece.  

Becoming an empty nester has certainly felt like starting over, not giving up, etc.. I never in a million years thought I would write a blog, write 13 children’s books and a novel. I just jotted down some other ideas for stories in the future. There is a thought in our society that once you do certain things such as: raise kids, reach a certain age, finish a certain job, etc.. that there is nothing left to do. What did C.S. Lewis say? “You are never too old to set a new goal or to dream a new dream.” Wise words. Each New Year we hear the term “New Year Resolution.”  The time when we evaluate ourselves and try to determine what needs to change for the better.  Usually those resolutions don’t last but the intent is to try.  What if we never tried to forge a new path or a better path?  Life would certainly be mediocre. Some folks may prefer mediocre, that is completely fine if that is where they want to live. But what is life without starting something new?  Challenging yourself?  Starting something over again with different methods and more experience?  Recently I read about Harland Sanders, the creator of Kentucky Fried Chicken.  This guy had so many jobs throughout his life.  He was a farmhand, a railroad worker, a lawyer, a hotel owner, and dustpan worker for a railroad. That is a few of the jobs listed in his biography.  There were more.  Sanders did not even begin to think about KFC until about age 50.  For a while he enjoyed success with his chicken business.  Fun fact, he sold his KFC franchise when Interstate 75 started to congest traffic a good deal.  After selling, he was left with only his savings and his $105 a month Social Security check, he was 65 years old.  Even then, this tenacious spirit did not give up.  He opted to start over yet again.  He often slept in his car going from restaurant to restaurant marketing his very special spices and his unique way of frying chicken.  All of this hard work paid off.  He finally had many places to dine both domestically in the US and Internationally.  In 1970 at the age of 73 he sold his business for 2 million dollars (roughly 18 million by today’s standards) and lived the rest of his life very comfortably.  When I read about his life I was in awe of his willingness to not give up.  Did he reach low points?  Absolutely.  Did he struggle?  I am quite sure.  But he never threw in the towel.  To give you all dear reader’s a few more examples.  Henry Ford was 45 when he started to design Ford Motor Vehicles.  Vera Wang was 40 when she designed her first dress.  Sam Walton founded Wal-Mart when he was 45.  The late great Julia Child started her path to success at the age of 50.  What is the moral of the story?  You have a gift inside of you.  Find that gift, share that gift even if that blessing is to a select few.  You can and will make the world, or just one person’s life a better dwelling place.  

Source: businessinsider.com

My books are on Amazon!

The Quacktastic Adventures of Ellie and Lord Barks a Lot

Clean it Up! Wash it Up!

Coming soon:

The Case of the Missing Honk Honk

The Case of the Missing Ornaments

Appalachian Allegory