A fifty-something young Christian woman who loves NATURE, animals, and being outside. She is a Christian who is married and has 2 wonderful boys. Faith and family are what guide her life.
KNOW – I define my GRIT as Gather (info), Respond, Intention and Trust. I changed my words zero times because they came to me quickly and the ones I chose first were perfect for me! It took me 2-3 minutes, if that, to come up with them and I didn’t need to check-in with anyone.
Honestly, I thought it would take some time to consider various words that would represent my GRIT. On a scale of 1 (not easy) to 10 (very easy), I chose 6 for perceived ease of selection. I didn’t think the words would come quickly or easily. I thought it would be somewhat challenging to determine the G, R, I and T words that would truly feel “just right” for me. In the end, it was SO easy that I’d go with 10 using the same scale. The words came to me right away! No long reflections, no hesitation, no time spent weighting between a couple of words to decide which one would be just right.
I realized that, when I confront challenges, I do already have a way in which I approach them. Before doing this work, I hadn’t given any thought about how I manage challenges; I just deal with what life presents. In choosing my G, R, I and T words I realized that I do approach things in a particular way.
My values are family, God’s will, gratitude, integrity and honesty. My values relate to and influence my GRIT in approaching challenges. Trust is directly related to God’s will. I trust what is happening in my life is God’s will, that God is growing and teaching me through the events that take place in my life. This is my belief, what I value and what I trust in.
Gather, Respond and Intention are related to my values of family, gratitude, and integrity. Next to my relationship with God, my family is my priority. When I gather information and respond to a challenge, I consider the impact that these decisions will have on myself and my family.
Integrity and honesty relate to my intention. To act with intention, I do so with integrity and with honesty. I do not compromise my morals and I am truthful.
GROW – When it was time to grow my GRIT, I looked at my words and thought about which area would have a significant impact when managing challenges AND which area I believed I could somewhat easily make changes to grow. I decided to focus my growth at work and at home.
In terms of confidence for growing my GRIT, I’d say 7 using a scale of 1 (not confident) to 10 (very confident). I was pretty sure I could grow my GRIT, but challenging situations are just that…challenging! For me, I often respond from a very emotional place. This emotional response has years and years behind it soooo although I thought I could grow in this area, I knew it would take commitment, perseverance, and being very present. I was hopeful I could do it. My GRIT is completely interconnected so, even if I was going to focus on Response, I very naturally worked on Gather, Intention, and Trust as well.
Growing my Response (i.e., how I first respond or react to a challenge) would have a significant positive impact and I thought it was something I could start to do. Next was Intention. To manage the situation with Intention. To be conscious and in control of how I manage the situation. Next came Gather. I tend to gather information naturally however, with some challenges, the information I gather or consider may be one-sided and biased. Trusting was fourth. I need to trust everything will work out as it’s meant to.
Excerpts from Know, Grow and Show Your GRIT! Self-Discovery Made Simple (pg. 89-92)
Meet this GRITizen in the audio version available on March 13th!
