Spark Stories: Perseverance When Things Fall Apart

There are moments in life when it feels like the ground disappears beneath your feet.

You work toward something for years—pouring in time, energy, hope, and heart—only to watch it fall apart. The plan doesn’t work. The dream changes. The outcome isn’t what you imagined. And suddenly, it feels like your whole world is crashing down around you.

That moment is heavy. It’s discouraging. And it’s deeply human.

Perseverance doesn’t mean you never fail. It means you feel the disappointment fully… and then you choose to stand back up.

Real perseverance shows up when you’re forced to start again—when you gather what you’ve learned and move forward anyway. It’s the quiet strength of continuing when it would be easier to quit, and trusting yourself to begin again even without guarantees.

Rudyard Kipling’s poem If—captures this perfectly:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew to serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

That line speaks to moments when motivation is gone and quitting feels reasonable. Perseverance is choosing to keep going anyway—calling on strength you didn’t know you had, and trusting that effort still matters even when the outcome is uncertain.

This message resonates deeply at Full STEAM Ahead because perseverance is one of our core Maker Traits. Our students practice it daily when designs fail, code won’t run, or ideas need reworking—sometimes again and again. They learn that setbacks aren’t the end of the story; they’re part of the process.

On a personal note, perseverance is tied to some of my favorite memories. My dad memorized poetry as a hobby. Throughout my childhood, he taught me his arsenal of poems by rote, and because of him, I have many of them locked away in my head. Memorizing If is the gold poetry badge here at STEAM.

That’s why we encourage our children to memorize this poem—not just for the words, but for the wisdom inside them. One day, when things don’t go as planned, those lines may quietly remind them to breathe, reset, and keep moving forward.

Perseverance can pull you through hard times.
It can help you begin again.
And sometimes, it’s the very thing that opens the doors to greatness.

-Hilary Shore