Determination

Talented ordinary women with extraordinary determination
(inspired by Julie & Julia the movie)

I watched this movie a tad too late compare to my other friends. I only watched it once and immediately fell in love with the characters. Two women - in different life and in different time – bound to fill their own sense of purpose through the art of cooking. One started just to fill in her spare time while serving as a diplomat’s wife in the early years. The other one- in much more modern time – was trying to escape her constant feeling of failure and her inability to finish anything in her life.

Both women met challenges in their ordinary lives, but the way they pursue their goals was extraordinary. I once again learn that some dreams don’t take shape in our early lives. We go search them only to go home empty handed before they finally come knocking our front door, usually in a time when we least expect it. Rejections and prejudice always bring our hope and dreams down, but to define and to keep the dream is the art of determination.

I am much interested in the Julie character in this movie. She was a lost puppy surrounded by a pack of friends whom all had accomplished something great in their lives. She was the unhappy-under pressure loser. She once had a dream of being a writer, but never had the willingness to finish her novel. In one of her most frustrated moment, she decided to start something small, something that combines both of her talents – cooking and writing. So there came the Julie&Julia blog – a blog with a simple goal, which is to write her own experience in cooking all of the 514 recipes in Julia Child’s cooking book in exactly 365 days. She determined to finish her project. Along the way, she was alive. She found her happiness and her sense of purpose.
There were downs, many downs, in both of these women’s stories. There were disappointments, tears, and anger. But there was also determination. A determination so strong that it made them keeps going. Not only that, they had a marvelous time in the process too.



What is dream without the determination to pursue it? What is idea without the determination to work on it? What is life without the determination to live it? What is talent without the determination to use it?

Talent alone will keep you floating above the water. Determination, my friend, is the power that will make you swim across those seven seas.