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Learning the Virtue of Hard Work and Determination from my Grandmother

When I was young, Agnes Nken used to tell me that nothing in life comes easy without hard work. I will always remember her words because she was always an active and hardworking individual even in her old age. While my childhood was difficult, Agnes Nken made me feel hopeful as I would imagine working hard towards a better future. I have always thought my grandmother Agnes Nken greatly impacted my growth and mentality towards hard work, which is why I learned not to give up easily.

            Agnes Nken was always active and hardworking, which is why she also instilled a similar mentality in me. She was always up early setting goals and taking actions to work towards them (Hari, 2016). If she decides that she wants to buy a new equipment for her farm, she will do her research and develop a savings plan. Each day, she will wake up early and look for temporary jobs that would help her earn extra money. In addition to contributions from family, she will end up purchasing the equipment within the shortest time possible. Even though she is in her old age, nothing seems to stop her whenever she decides to achieve something. Agnes Nken opted to work until her health could no longer allow her to do so. Although she is not permanently employed, she still manages to find odd jobs such as landscaping people’s backyards and offering her advice in relation to home decors. One day, I tried to ask her to take a rest so that we could take care of her. I was hoping that she would take the offer and let her family care for her. “No way! Why would I do that yet I still have the energy to work and provide for myself?” She argued. We had to allow her to continue with her projects since it was clear that she was still quite energetic.

            Whenever she faces challenges, she never quits. Instead, she keeps trying until the project she is working on becomes successful (Quallich, 2019). Also, Agnes Nken is not shy to seek advice or ask for help when she has no other alternatives. For instance, she got a kidney transplant that required her to stay in the hospital for weeks. Her absence from her business led to its downfall and the start of her financial struggles. However, once she was fully healed, Agnes was not shy to ask her family for a loan so she could start over. Through her hard work, she managed to recreate her business and pay back all the loans she had taken. At the beginning, the business had lost all customers to her competitors. It took a lot of patience to rebuild the network of loyal customers and be guaranteed of a certain income every week.

            One character trait I admired in Agnes Nken was her determination to achieve her goals, which was revealed when she wanted to build a new house after a hurricane destroyed her previous home (Courtright, Duerden & Smith, 2014). She stayed at the shelter for one week and refused to spend more time there. “I am still strong, I can rebuild my house! All I need are some supplies and laborers,” she said. “But you lost everything, you need to be financially stable before you can afford all that is required!” I exclaimed. However, my grandmother insisted that she will do odd jobs and save enough money to start off the process. She moved in with an old friend and worked so hard, despite her previous traumatic experience with the hurricane. Within three months, she had bought enough supplies to start the rebuilding process. Today, she is the proud owner of a house that she built with little financial help from her friends and family. Nothing could stop her once she decided that it was her goal for the year.

            Agnes Nken taught me that no situation is permanent, and that all difficulties can be resolved through hard work and determination (Kara, Gürbüz & Öncü, 2019). Therefore, whenever I find myself in a difficult situation, I try to find ways out of it rather than drown myself in self-pity. I bought my first car immediately after high school. It was all I had dreamed of as it was blue in color and small enough to support my needs. Unfortunately, barely a month later it got into an accident and was written off. I had loaned it to my friend over the weekend not knowing that she was going to a party with it. I was devastated because I lost my friend and my favorite car too. Agnes Nken approached me and reassured me that it would get better soon. However, I should not spend time whining about the loss of my vehicle since it was something that I could easily work towards getting an even better version. “It is okay to grieve for your friend, but crying over your car is a waste of time!” she argued. “Why don’t you channel that energy towards saving and purchasing a bigger car?” she said. “I feel at a loss…I spent all of my savings on this vehicle, it has not even been three months. It will take me a lot of time to save up again,” I responded. “If only you focused on starting over rather than sulking, you would be a step closer to achieving the set goal,” my grandmother responded. She walked me through the grieving process for months as she also reminded me that life must move on. I still miss my friend, but I got over my first car since I was able to purchase another one within a few months of saving. If not for my grandmother, I could have grieved in an unhealthy way. It could have costed me more money and limited my progress in life.

            In the end, Agnes Nken was significant to me because she taught me how to be hard working and resilient whenever I set goals for various areas of my life and I am grateful because I am now able to understand that nothing will come easy if I do not put in enough efforts. I have applied the lessons she taught me by valuing time since every minute matters when one has goals to achieve. Rather than spend time being lazy, I now know that I should use the time to take actions that will contribute in one way or the other towards my goals. If I do not take action, it will be impossible to achieve the goals.