“Never give up, never surrender” is a line from one of my favorite movies, Galaxy Quest. A movie about a group of has-been actors that go on a real-life space mission (by accident), pretending they know what they’re doing. (It’s a little pathetic how many of my life’s lessons come from movies like this one.)
I was in the final year of my NP program and really struggling through the Pediatrics course. The professor annoyed me, I had a hard time listening to her lessons as she drawled on and on. Things were challenging at home and at work. There were 8 kids living at home at this time and 6 of them in the teenage years. I was still working full time as an RN and they were asking me to take on a management role. I felt buried and overwhelmed.
It was about this time where I just felt like giving up. It was a struggle to try and keep with all the demands that were pressing down on me. The road to graduation seemed too long. I questioned whether it was worth it. So, I took a break from studying. It was time to veg-out and watch a movie, just let my brain unwind from the constant workload. What better movie to watch than Galaxy Quest?
I did not have an epiphany while watching the movie. I had seen it many times before; it was like spending an evening with an old friend where you can just laugh and enjoy the passing of time. It was a much-needed break, but also a reminder of this phrase to never give up and never surrender. The road I was travelling was challenging, but it was not going to beat me. I was not going to just give up after all I had worked for and sacrificed. What would my kids learn if they saw me just quit?
Needless to say, I did not quit. I finished that stupid Peds course and moved on to the next semester: Women’s Health. It was not much better than the Peds course. Again, I found I was starting to feel some burnout. I felt overwhelmed with all I needed to learn and remember. But…never give up, never surrender.
It was at this time when I really adopted the ideology of taking one step at a time. When I looked at the whole picture, it seemed too much to conquer, but when I started to look at just one day at a time, one subject at a time, and even one test at a time, I started to feel I could really succeed. It is a simple lesson, not a new idea or anything: Just take one step at a time to overcome the challenges and obstacles that will always come before you. You will find a way to get through the hardest things in life as you remember this simple charge: Never give up, never surrender!
