The trait for the lovely month of June is Perseverance. What does that mean, exactly? Well, perseverance means to continue with something, whether that be an event, project, school, or even when you’re struggling with your mental health, despite the difficulty. It’s incredibly important to persevere because you don’t succeed instantly every time. More often than not, reaching a goal or, for example, winning an award, requires a lot of work and time. Perseverance means that you don’t fall at the first hurdle. It means that you’re stronger in the face of criticism and setbacks. It also means that you care about yourself and your success, as you are willing to put in the time and effort to make your work the best it can be while balancing your general wellbeing.

There is a reason why the newest Mars rover is called Perseverance—it’s the world admitting that exploring a new world may be extremely difficult, but still putting in the work and believing that they will find exciting things at the same time.

So how can we cultivate, or grow our perseverance? Some of you may not even realise that it’s possible. Well, the things that you can start with are:

1. Start small. This may seem counterintuitive as the whole point of perseverance is to achieve hard-reaching goals. However, starting small can let you break the big task into smaller tasks, making the whole thing not quite so daunting. Besides, it’s much better to have small setbacks at each step that you can learn from, than one big one that you can’t get past.
2. Focus on your strengths. Find parts of your task that you can make fun, or excel in. Not every part of your goal has to be challenging and boring, find something to work towards that you really enjoy!
3. Reward yourself after completing each task. This doesn’t have to be chocolate or crisps. A long walk outside, drawing, or spending an hour playing Zelda can be rewarding too! Just remember that you can reward yourself for the tiniest things, you don’t have to work the whole day just to feel like you’ve done “enough” to relax. Relax when you need/want to.
4. Choose reliable expectations—you don’t want to burn yourself out! Your work will be so much better if you’re happy and rested, enjoying your tasks, than if you’re tired of what you’re doing. Everyone’s expectations will be different, you have to set goals that you can reach.
5. Don’t worry if you fail. Failing is a part of life, it just happens sometimes. Failing at that thing doesn’t mean you can’t do it again. So, pick yourself up and have another go with the lessons you’ve learnt!

So, to finish, perseverance is the main theme for June because it is essential for our day to day lives. Without it, we would never get anything done. For this month, try your best to use perseverance in one task—it doesn’t have to be big. It can simply be finishing your homework or starting a small project. Just, simply, don’t fall at the first hurdle!

Have a good month!

By Katie Joslin