{"id":433,"date":"2014-04-04T18:52:49","date_gmt":"2014-04-05T00:52:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/womeninleadership.flywheelsites.com\/?p=433"},"modified":"2021-12-01T22:51:35","modified_gmt":"2021-12-01T22:51:35","slug":"press-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/womeninleadershipforlife.ca\/press-on\/","title":{"rendered":"Press On"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Strength does not come from physical capacity.  It comes from an indomitable will<\/i>.”  Mahatma Gandhi<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Press<\/a>Autumn, 1982.<\/i><\/span>  I sink into the warmth of the water in the big claw foot bathtub.  It is about 2:00 a.m. and I now feel ready for the exam I will be writing tomorrow.  I am bone tired.  My girls are sound asleep after their full days of school and times with friends.  My dad has just returned home after a chemotherapy treatment, the house and yard are big and demanding, and my husband hasn’t been home in weeks. <\/p>\n

This has been one of those evenings where I feel like giving up on completing my graduate degree.  Tonight as I was studying, I kept reading the Calvin Coolidge quote that sits framed on my wall.  The framed quote is a gift from my sister Ann, encouraging words for me when I started university.  It reads<\/p>\n

Press on: nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance.<\/i><\/span>“Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Night after night, as I fall into my books, into the tub, into bed, I read this and keep going.  I picture myself having completed my degree, doing the kind of work I love to do, and being able to provide for my daughters.  I picture myself with the strength that comes from accomplishment. It was this persistence, this raw WILL<\/span>, that helped me complete my graduate degree.<\/p>\n

Spring 2014.<\/i><\/span>  Yes, there are many times where pressing on, having fierce resolve, and WILL<\/span> are in the forefront of my awareness.   Writer and teacher Eknath Easwaren suggested that what counts most in life is not IQ but WQ or WILL Quotient.<\/i><\/span>  He says that to control our destiny we need to harness our will, to do not what we like, but what will service our long terms interests.<\/p>\n

So right now, taking responsibility for my Self Care requires pressing on, at times, with indomitable will<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Linda McCann<\/strong> – April 2014<\/p>\n

About the photo:<\/p>\n

Equinox sunrise at Pelican Point Grand Bahamas – Linda McCann<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Strength does not come from physical capacity.  It comes from an indomitable will.”  Mahatma Gandhi Autumn, 1982.  I sink into the warmth of the water in the big claw foot bathtub.  It is about 2:00 a.m. and I now feel ready for the exam I will be writing tomorrow.  I am bone tired.  My girls […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13,14],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/womeninleadershipforlife.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/womeninleadershipforlife.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/womeninleadershipforlife.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/womeninleadershipforlife.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/womeninleadershipforlife.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/womeninleadershipforlife.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3611,"href":"https:\/\/womeninleadershipforlife.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433\/revisions\/3611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/womeninleadershipforlife.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/womeninleadershipforlife.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/womeninleadershipforlife.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}