I have touched on perseverance in any number of blogs, but I haven’t dedicated an entire blog to the concept and I thought I would remedy that in this post.
So, what exactly is perseverance? To me, it is staying the course no matter the number or type (or both) of obstacles in your way.
Is it easy peasy? Not a chance. Easy in theory, yes, as one typically underestimates the work that perseverance takes.
Is it worth the work? Absolutely. When you give up, you add to the mountain of other things you perceive you have failed at (arguably mostly things you’ve given up on rather than failed at). Conversely, when you persevere, the follow-through on its own feels good. I posit that perseverance in the face of adversity leaves you in a better place than simply giving up. Why? Because part of you must know that persevering means that you have given it your all.
When you don’t look under every rock, you almost always regret not doing so. We rarely regret what has gone right – though possible – is not usually what makes a person feel regret.
So, what kind of things do we do that warrant perseverance? Anything and everything that we believe is worth pursuing in life. Here’s an example from my own life. A couple of weeks ago, I took a tumble off my horse. Who was at fault, you ask? No one. She tripped, plain and simple, and I came off.
Because I hit my head, I earned a trip to the ER. My CT scan was clear, and I was told to take a week off and to follow up with my internist. My internist gave me a clean bill of health, so back to the barn I went. Was I more anxious than usual? Of course! (I’m human, after all!)
Did I persevere in the face of adversity? Yes. Could I have chosen to quit riding? To give up? Of course. However, both would have resulted in more piling onto the negative pile. Simply getting back on my horse was a win – one more for the positive pile. To add an even bigger positive to the pile, I had one day to overcome my fear of getting back on my horse before the horses left for a horse show. So, did I win every class at the show? Nope (I did, however, win one); the ribbons won at that show are more meaningful to me than most.
Admittedly, perseverance doesn’t always produce the results we hope for – and sometimes can even add to the negative pile. Nothing is foolproof. I would vastly prefer, however, to go down fighting rather than rolling over and giving up. “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”
(Note: There are some instances where withdrawal is the best option, but that’s another blog post!!)
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