Word Of The Month: Perseverance.
Rome wasn’t built in a day.
The ability to persist through a moment that challenges or calls to question our belief in ourselves can be trying. When everything is seemingly going wrong, and things are not working out how you intended them too, stress can set in whittling its way at our mental fortitude until we feel as if there is nothing left to cling on to. Then tiredness creeps its way to the forefront making every step feel as if we had just got done with the most arduous exercise session imaginable. The thought of chucking it all in and calling it a day lingers over us and beckons like sirens and their enchanting music, luring sailors to the rocky shores to shipwreck. The temptation to give in to this desire to give up is something that currently I feel most people are all too familiar with and got me thinking this month about the idea of perseverance and what that means to us not only as individuals, but altogether as humans.
When beginning a new hobby or project, it is very well known and accepted that we are going to both be bad at it and feel lost. This is something that most humans have in common. Very rarely is someone going to be good at something they have just started. Getting good at something takes practice and the route out of feeling lost is knowledge and direction. This is a goal that comes with a steep learning curve, and for many a goal that needs dedication and a consistent effort to achieve. This is perseverance. Persevering when you feel lost until you find a direction and persevering to become better at that one new instrument or hobby you are learning.
I think about perseverance because it is all encompassing. It is not just persisting through a task to get it done, but about owning and mastering that task. It is not about allowing yourself to be beaten by life but persevering no matter how difficult that may be.
“If we know exactly where we're going, exactly how to get there, and exactly what we'll see along the way, we won't learn anything. ”
Scott Peck
What does perseverance mean to you?
What are you persevering through now?
Are you learning anything new?
Why persevere? Life is hard and unfair, and a lot of the time confusing and unreasonable too. Things do not wrap themselves up in a neat bow and come to a happy ending like they do in fairy tales. As much as we give it, it can sometimes seem as if life keeps taking. I believe we persevere to own our own destiny because that is what made us as humans who we are today. Persevering on the one hand; not only through countless threats to our physical wellbeing, but also through walls that challenge the gaps in our knowledge. And that is what makes you great. You may think you have not done enough in your life or achieved much, but you are where you are now, and you got there by persevering.
“A river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence.”
James N. Watkins
Things may seem difficult, hopeless, and unforgiving now but there is an end and a better future for you. So just like the bodybuilder that spends many months perfecting their physique, or the student that spends countless sleepless nights working on their thesis, one thing we all have in common is our ability to persevere. You can master that hobby and can finish that project you are working on. You can have that better life you have dreamed of. Whatever it is, you can and will get there if you persevere.
- By Patrick
References
Huber, L. 15 Quotes To Keep You Going When You Feel Like Giving Up [online] Available at: https://medium.com/@refinedliz/15-quotes-to-keep-you-going-when-you-feel-like-giving-up-5e1de316fc1c#:~:text=%E2%80%9CA%20river%20cuts%20through%20rock,but%20because%20of%20its%20persistence.%E2%80%9D&text=%E2%80%9COur%20greatest%20glory%20is%20not,rising%20every%20time%20we%20fall.%E2%80%9D [Accessed 19th May: 2021]
Peck, M.S. (1978) The Road Less Traveled. London: Arrow Books.