This week, Elana Johnson is hosting the Never Surrender Blogfest. All you have to do is blog about a time you didn’t surrender. It can be about anything. It’s not too late to participate and you might even win a prize.
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During my senior year of high school, my guidance counselor told not to bother with university. I would never succeed. Granted, he was partly correct on that assumption. One of my finest achievements was skipping Social Studies 30 and not getting into trouble. Okay, almost not getting into trouble. My grades reflected my lack of enthusiasm in the course. And even though I never skipped English and Math, those grades weren’t looking too hot, either. My strengths definitely lay in the sciences.
I decided to prove my guidance counselor wrong. I did end up going to university (after I repeated Social Studies and English), and studied like I had never studied before. Okay, I still skipped some of my boring courses, but I worked super hard on the courses that meant more to me. Yep, the science-based ones. Not only did I graduate with a Bachelor of Physical Education (now known as Kinesiology), I went on to do my Master’s of Science degree in exercise physiology, with a focus on energy metabolism. I spent a semester at the University of Jyväskylä (central Finland) and was invited to do my PhD in the department of sport sciences. I decided not to pursue the degree for numerous reasons. My education also resulted in a summer research position with the Defense and Civil Institute of Environmental Medicine (Toronto), where I studied the effect of various drugs on anaerobic performance.
In the end, I decided I’d rather write novels than research grants (I became a drug rep instead), but I’m so glad I never surrendered when my guidance counselor told me not to bother with university. I would have missed out on so many awesome opportunities, and my educational and research background has been an inspiration for some of my stories.
Is there a time that you never surrendered(e.g. trained for a marathon, queried agents, studied for an entrance exam)?