© 2024 NPR Illinois
The Capital's Community & News Service
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

This I Believe: The Power Of Trying

Aron Suszko headshot
Rachel Lattimore
/
NPR Illinois | 91.9 UIS

I have always believed in something that few seem to grasp. Something that you wouldn’t expect. I believe in trying. Not success, not failure but simply trying. The power of trying does not make itself very apparent because there are too many people (myself included) that aren’t brave enough to step up to the challenge. When I was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, I felt the world had dealt me a losing hand, and there was nothing that I could do. I slogged through life for the longest time, content that my fate of failure was sealed.
In the course of my slogging, I had a realization: I wasn’t alone. As it turns out, one in five high school boys and one in eleven high school girls have received an A.D.D. or A.D.H.D. diagnosis. Who are these people? How did they succeed with their learning disability? Along with help from many understanding educational professionals along the way, I found a shockingly simple answer.  They tried. Every day I watch hundreds of people who have the potential to succeed, simply refuse to try. I know that pain. I know what it feels like to be sidelined by yourself. I know it can be fought because it’s something I have fought my entire life. If I have learned anything from the past 19 years of living my life, I learned you can accomplish more than you think you can when you put forth enough effort. The world does not change itself, it needs innovators who commit to changing the world. We need people that commit to trying, even if they fail. History remembers both sides of trying, success and failure. Trying is how the story of the world is written, and my story began with refusing to accept my circumstances and limitations. I used to look at the world and only see things I couldn’t do. Now, the opposite is true. Now I look at the world, knowing that there is nothing I can’t do.

My middle school art teacher, Ms. Lipsky, taught me a valuable lesson in art and in general.
She said the hand creates what the mind sees. Essentially, your perception of your work, as well as being able to visualize what you want to create, determines how good your work will be. Your perception of your life counts as much as your actions do. It is your perception of the world that drives your action to change it. When you see the world as sketch paper, a canvas or a computer screen, you realize that it is something that you can shape and change. It changes you.

Everyone is capable of incredible feats. The world is waiting for the next great story to be written, the next great work of art. People truly can make the world a better place to live in, if they would just pick up a pencil, a brush or a keyboard, and try.
 

Related Stories