Stubborn

I'm terribly stubborn.

It's true, I know it.  And if I didn't know it, my husband would quickly fix that.  My children would fix that.  My mom would fix that.  Heaven knows, my dad would.

And usually, we don't really think of being stubborn as a good thing.  Doesn't it conjure up the image of the mule that won't move when the farmer wants it to? Or the goat that won't do what it's told?  Or... I don't know, pick another animal.  (Why do all the stubborn metaphors have to do with farm animals, anyway?)

But, there's a flipside to stubborn.  (As there is to many faults... Cathie Jo taught me that.  There are good manifestations and bad manifestations of qualities.  It's just you have to figure out how to best manifest yours.)

The flipside is determination, and I've got that in spades.  When I'm not down on myself for being too stubborn, I'm also quite glad that I am laced with determination.  It allows me to face each challenge with a set to my jaw as I murmur, "You will not beat me. I WILL conquer you."

And oh, sometimes that murmur is a stubborn one.  As the struggles fly and my desire is to curl up and cry "Uncle," I always find a way to claw up and refuse to be beaten.

It may not be pretty.  But I won't be beaten by this life and anything it has to throw at me. And when everything else seems hard, sometimes the determination to not be destroyed is the only thing I've got.

So, come on, Life.  Give me your best shot.  You won't win because I am made of sterner stuff than even I know