Perseverance story: It all depends on how you react when the waves come

One day a little girl came running home to her dad while he was still working in his home office. She was very upset because she had just lost her number one spot on the chess team at school. Her dad knew how much chess meant to his little girl so he took a break and suggested that they take a walk, and talk about what happened. The little girl explained how hard she had worked, how much she had sacrificed to be the best. And now an older boy came from another school and just took what she was working so hard for so long. And right then her dad got an idea, “Let me tell you a story about two people who had the same thing happen to them, just a little bit differently. One of them was crushed by what had happened to him, the other one decided to learn from the situation and work harder. You see, many times you cannot prevent something from happening. The only thing you can control is how you react.” The little girl looked at her dad and asked, “But what does that have to do with me?”

Her dad smiled and suggested, “Let me tell you the story, and then you will tell me which one would you want to be like. Deal?” The little girl still puzzled, agreed. So her dad started telling her the story, “There was once a little boy on his knees at a beautiful beach scooping and packing sand with his plastic shovel into a bucket. When he filled the bucket he turned it over and lifted the bucket. To the little boy’s delight, he now created a tower for his castle. The little boy continued doing so for the whole day, creating his kingdom. He even made a moat with his spoon, a bridge with a popsicle stick, and walls with the help of his other tools. After a whole day of hard work, he finally built his dream castle. He was so proud of himself as he had sacrificed so much that day to get the job done. Unlike his friends who played games and went for ice cream the young boy worked hard the whole day. Then the day came to an end and with it the tide and waves. The waves destroyed what the little boy was creating for what seemed to him a whole eternity. The boy not feeling any anger looked around to see if anything was left so that he could use next time and then decided to study the waves that destroyed his castle.”

“Then there was a businessman who lived and worked in a big city with busy streets and lots of noise from the traffic. The businessman shuffled papers into stacks, spoke constantly on the phone, delegated assignments over the phone or e-mail punching each word like crazy on the keyboard with his fingers. He was good with numbers and words, and because of it, contracts were signed easily. Every time a contract was signed the businessman made a big profit. So the businessman spent his life formulating plans and building his kingdom as the little boy did with the sandcastle at the beach. The two builders had very much in common, they both made something beautiful out of nothing. Also, they both were very diligent and determined to build their world. But both weren’t ready for the tide that was sure to come one day. The boy saw the tide many times and knew what would follow and then how to do things better the next time, but the businessman never saw the tide coming, and once it did he tried to hold everything together even though he knew he couldn’t.”

“The boy learned to feel no sorrow, no fear, and no regret when the tide came. He was not surprised what had happened, he just smiled, picked up his tools, and was prepared to do things better next time. He knew that if something that you have no control of happens to you it doesn’t matter that much. What does matter is how you react to those situations. On the other hand, the businessman was terrified of the tide and the waves. He fought them for many years, but eventually, they have gotten too big for him to stop them. And like the sandcastle was washed away, so was his business and his courage to try one more time. So you see little one, both couldn’t control what happened to them. But the lesson is the same for both of them. The outcome always depends on how you react to things that happen to you.”

The dad stopped walking knelt down and looked at his daughter face to face”So little one which one are you? Are you the little boy or are you the businessman?” The little girl looked at her dad and replied, “I’m like the little boy! I will never give up, never! I understand now what I have to do.” The little girl continued to play chess, she practiced, read books and articles, viewed other players how they played, and most importantly she learned from her mistakes. She never gave up on the things she wanted to do from then on out. And if anyone asked her where did she get her motivation from, she would just reply, “You can’t decide what will happen to you, but you can decide how you react when it does. And I chose to never stop, never give up!”