Family Rituals

The Importance of Family Rituals:

Vacation for most families is just a chance to relax and get out of the normal, boring everyday activities.  For my family, our trips to the north woods of Minnesota hold more value.  Seventy-three years ago, my family began to take the long sixteen hour trips to a lake in the middle of nowhere. They could have chosen to visit a closer lake, perhaps in Wisconsin but this lake, Mann Lake, had a special meaning. Every year my family makes the voyage to Mann Lake; we take in the beauty of the area.  My dad always likes to comment on the fact that the floors at the local grocery store in town have had the same tile on them since he was a small boy.  It is hard to find a place that unchanged nowadays.  For many, unchanged floors in a grocery store that closes every day at 6 O'clock, is not that important.  For those in my family, like my dad who has made the trip up since he was seven months old, these small details remind them of the good memories made with loved ones who are now gone and they all feel the same excitement they did when they were kids with little to no worries.

What does perseverance mean for me? When I think of perseverance, I think of the journey to a goal not easily achievable.  Those who truly preserver, believe in them and find success in any endeavor they come in contact with.

More so, perseverance is about taking risks and learning from the experiences of such risk taking. We all want something in our lives, whether it is money, love, power, etc.  Many however, will not put forth the effort to achieve their dreams. They'd rather become content with success in their heads but not in real life. I often find myself thinking about my future. I begin to ask myself, what will I do with my life, where will I live; will I find love, etc.  As previously mentioned, those who persevere are risk takers.

Perseverance is like climbing a mountain that keeps getting higher.  We all come across challenges during the day to day activities we encounter.  The "finish line" per say, is not always easy to reach and if it were, everyone would be a winner would and human success would have no further meaning.