The Rebuild Journal

TRUDGE

Take
Root
Under
Difficult
Ground
Everyday

Keep showing up.

Feedback from my professor/SWRK/322 Social Work Policy.

“Hi Samuel—despite the points earned on this assignment, you’ve done very well here. One section was omitted, though, which is why point deductions are high. Had the social work micro/mezzo, macro section been included in the paper, this would have been a solid A assignment, without question. The section was unfortunately worth 20% of the assignment grade.”

This is just part of the feedback on my paper. I am sharing this because you can’t have the “good” without the “bad,” even though I often forget that. My first reaction was to quit school before I flunked out. That has always been my mode of operation—stop before I fail, so that I am a quitter, not a failure. In my head, that kind of twisted logic has always made sense.

Today, I am trying to look at this experience through a strength-based, Humanistic lens. Instead of seeing this as evidence that I don’t belong here or that I’m falling behind, I’m choosing to see what’s actually in front of me: I did strong work, I missed a section, and I received clear, direct feedback. Nothing about this says I can’t do the work—it says I’m learning how to do it better. Growth doesn’t come from being perfect; it comes from staying engaged when mistakes show up. For me, continuing instead of quitting is the real work. Staying in the process, even when my old instincts tell me to run, is progress—and today, that counts.

Recovery doesn’t always look like improvement—
sometimes it looks like learning again.

What’s one small way you’ve noticed growth lately?