Living close to my son and his family means I get to watch my granddaughter Arya’s growth and development. At a little over 1 year old, she is currently learning to walk.  I’ve watched her progress over the last several weeks, first pulling herself up with both hands and walking along from chair to chair, then from chair to wall. She then progressed to pulling herself up and standing without support for a few minutes.  She got really fast at traversing the entire perimeter of her house, moving from furniture to wall, and back again.

Last week she began taking 3-4 steps from furniture to wall, falling down many times throughout the day.  Each time she fell down, she pulled herself up again, this time with only one hand, and started the process all over again.

By the end of the week she was standing on her own at times, and taking 6-8 steps in the middle of the room.  Again, falling down again and again and getting up, each time with a big smile on her face, to try again.

She never stayed down and told herself that she wasn’t good enough to walk, or that she would never get there.  She continues to toddle (I now know why children this age are called toddlers!) find her balance and takes more and more steps on her own.

We all were just like Arya when we were learning to walk.  We all have that determination and thrill of accomplishment in us.

When we are working toward something and it feels hard, or elusive, and seems like we are never going achieve our goal, remember that childlike drive.  What if we would have given up when we were learning to walk? What if we remained crawlers our entire life?

That’s what is happening when we give up too soon as adults.  Each attempt to walk gives Arya more information for her to be successful.  The same is true for us.

Each time we strive to reach our goals, we gain valuable information about ourselves. Let’s all use that information to continue to become the best possible humans we can be.