Show Up. Then Keep Showing Up.

By Running on Fumes on July 24, 2024

"Keep Showing Up" is the phrase Des Linden, an American long distance runner, and previous winner of the Boston Marathon uses to share how persistence and literal grind kept her working toward her goals.

Case in point -

While most youth and young adults return to the school routine in the coming weeks, it is not lost on me that this will be my final August in school (committee granting). Although I'm a career-college student, I have future sights set on leadership development opportunities and other federal civil service broadening goals. The support of children and even adult children from their parents is also not lost on me. I remember the summer before I entered college for the first time - my spouse at the time attended a preliminary day of getting paperwork in order, participating in meet-and-greets, getting to know the campus, etc. It was weird how each time the students and parents/spouses/support system groups came back together, I never saw my spouse. After the third interaction, I began to get worried. He never called or tried to find me. 6+ hours later, when the day was finished, I walked out to the parking lot and found him inside the vehicle, casually sitting there. I asked what happened and was everything ok. He stated (paraphrasing) he didn't want to be there around weirdos with goals in life and he was bored so he left. In my stunned silence, the feeling of being unsupported was overwhelming. I don't think he ever understood what education and goals meant to me.

Fast forward some years, I enthusiastically helped someone enroll in college for the first time. Maybe I made it seem easy, maybe I talked it up too much, maybe I'm just the "weirdo" but their first semester seemed to go well. The next semester not so much. Toward the middle/end of the semester, I noticed they weren't talking about their classes or having typical school-centered conversations yet we'd meet at the same places we always did, after our classes ended. Eventually, it was disclosed they hadn't been attending any classes at all...driving to campus, parking, then never exiting the vehicle. No communication with their professors, or me. Just stopped showing up. Again, in my stunned silence, I was heartbroken. Why wasn't I told? What would make someone I cared about feel as if they couldn't tell me college just wasn't for them? In my heart, I know it created a rift I've never been able to fill.

Team Fitness, who keeps showing up

To this day, I have no answers. And that's ok. But when I see/hear/notice parents supporting those who value education, whether or not they have their own, I'm left feeling comforted. Because they keep showing up.

_________________

I ask you -

Is there a phrase you believe embodies your life philosophy? Mine is "Get it together!"

Do you have young or adult children getting ready to return to school?

Tell me your ideal role in facilitating education for someone in your life.

(The post Show Up. Then Keep Showing Up. first appeared here at Running on Fumes.)