One of the very few films that I enjoy watching over and over again is called The Holiday and in the storyline, there is a friendship built between Iris (one of the leading roles) and an ex-Hollywood director from the earlier times named Arthur. For those of you who haven't seen The Holiday, essentially it's about two women who switch homes for two weeks, mainly because they have areas in their lives of which no longer make them feel fulfilled, and coincidentally they are both having no luck with love. Iris, from a small town outside of London, England, switches houses with Amanda from California and the two characters both find love and happiness in their new locations. In a conversation with Iris, Arthur goes on about how much love he had for his wife and one of the reasons he loved her so much was because of her incredible level of gumption.
Gumption. Hmmm.. The first time I heard this word was actually during the first time that I watched The Holiday and I instantly wanted to know the meaning of it because of the way the lovely and intelligent old man talked about his wife. The Oxford dictionary defines gumption as "the shrewd or spirited initiative and resourcefulness." Which then probably leads you to the question of, "Why is she writing about gumption"?
Well, first things first, it has taken me an incredible amount of gumption just to being living here in France. I've never lived on my own before, I've never had to deal with banks and administration procedures, nor have I ever had to deal with being away from the people who make my life so wonderful, for such a long period of time. All of the things that I am experiencing here are new to me, and heck yes, it has been stressful, BUT I can already feel the amount I've "grown up" since only arriving here four weeks ago yesterday.
This job has also required me to have a lot of gumption because I am taking a huge leap and making progress with my dream of becoming an educator. Lesson planning, keeping my students engaged, time management and the behavioural aspect are all things that this job is requiring me to be doing - and woah, I am only 20 years old. It feels amazing when I get a group of kids who have the desire and willingness to hear me speak (and act out) English, even when the most they can understand is "Hello" and "How are you?". I enter the schools and can hear the students shouting "Oui, Oui, l'anglais aujourd'hui!!".
Like life, gumption comes with a few bumps and bruises along the way - but that's where character building and resiliency follows through. In my mind, gumption is having the guts and perseverance to do something that scares you, something that you know will make you come alive, and something that you dream about and catch yourself thinking about on a regular basis. There comes times in our lives when opportunities are on our horizons but we second guess them, and think about the possibility of the whole idea of it failing, and the negativity distracts us from how wonderful this thing in front of us has the chance of becoming. The majority of the time, with a little bit of our new favourite "G" word, new and magical and life altering things can happen.
I am definitely a strong believer in the idea of us having one shot at life and it's up to us to make it worthwhile. A wise high school chemistry teacher of mine wrote something in my 11th grade yearbook that said, "Life is what you make of it, Sam. Nothing more and nothing less." Having gumption will take you places; metaphorically and literally, and it all comes around to the importance of saying "Yes" more.
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