President Faust in his talk “Perseverance” said, “Paul Harvey, the famous news analyst and author, once said: “Someday I hope to enjoy enough of what the world calls success so that someone will ask me, ‘What’s the secret of it?’ I shall say simply this: ‘I get up when I fall down.’” 

 This really struck me, because it wasn’t what I expected him to say. It was really kind of profound advice, because it is so simple. It is something that we all are capable of, but can be so hard to do when we can’t see any farther down the road than where we are at. Later in the same talk he shares advice from successful people where one said, “Perseverance is far more important than skill or talent. You have to have a mindset that never gives up, no matter how tough it gets. A little talent and a lot of hard work are the foundation for learning any skill, and are far more important in the long run.”

Another thing that stood out to me was the topic of finding you passion. My four oldest kids have gone to college and two have graduated so far. For each of them there has been a struggle to find what degree they should focus on. It seems so permanent. We didn’t have this talk to reference at the time, but looking back they all chose direction of things they were passionate about. In the article, How do you find your passion Randy Komisar shares how sometimes we are looking for “THE” passion. The one thing that we will be doing for the rest of our lives, and that is wrong, its paralyzing. He says we should ask ourselves these two questions. What are my values and what do I care about? At that point we should choose a direction and follow it just as if we were going somewhere and it was north, south, east or west. 

It is so easy to feel stuck and not know what to do, but just choosing a direction allows us to make a decision and go with it. The questions we should ask as were choosing a direction is what is right in front of me and how does it sink up with my passions? Sometimes there are ten doors in front of us and we have to choose one and the other nine are closed. He suggests we look at it as there are ten doors open. 

I have spent the last 25 years at home raising my family and not in the work place, however I started taking online classes and went that direction. Over time it led me to gain some skills and confidence which allowed me to take a bookkeeping job. Although, these are small things, they were big opportunities to me. After a while, I applied for a job at an elementary school which was another new experience, and it helped me to grow more. I’m not sure what is ahead of me from here on out, but this class has given me a lot to think about and a lot of options of which direction to choose. 

One of my favorite things I have learned is that to be successful in life doesn’t have to do with how much money you make or how prestigious you are, but WHO you are. Honestly, even though I have had some growing opportunities and hope to have others, I have loved my journey and wouldn’t change anything. I feel fortunate to be able to stay home with my family while my husband worked and even thought I went through a time where I felt like I needed to do more. I realize, I was right where I needed to be. During that time, I was able to volunteer at the school and help in my community as well as callings at church. We have worked well as a team and I count my husband as my number one business partner. Now that our children are grown, I look forward to this next chapter in our lives as well. Im excited, to have a change of pace while still carving out time for my grown children and their families, hopefully including them in whatever venture we decide to begin!