You cannot just quit. Steps to Perseverance

Encouragement: Perseverance: persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.

On days when I am, going through troublesome times I search for things to make me feel better. My mind wonders to the past; how I overcame other adversities. I will reminisce on the good times, but I also envision what my life will be like in the future. Even amidst fear, doubt, and grief I find myself grasping to a hope and faith in my talents. Going through tough times can really take a toll on me. My whole energy is different, and you could even call it a slight depression. When energy, exerted in large amounts, dedicated to a goal, left incomplete, it feels like a waste of time when I fail. My spirit crushed. Everyone is at different levels of maturity when it comes to handling tough situations. Facing setbacks is one of the realities of life, and something everyone will face, but we have to take the necessary steps to persevere.

Facing setbacks in your journey is inevitable though; however, you cannot just quit, you must embrace perseverance and keep going. Easier said than done, but having the basic knowledge on how to get through the tough times, will help clear the fog, when those times happen. Perseverance is the persistence in doing something, despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. In a society like today, I find it hard to be patient for success. I start something and want to see the immediate results, answers, or outcomes. I have seen this type of attitude in many situations.

One that comes to mind that I and many other women can relate to the goal of losing weight. For whatever reason we will set a goal – that is sometimes unattainable in three weeks. Realistically it could take a lot longer to achieve the weight loss, and it would take a lot of consistency. I will eat healthy for one week and expect the results. I may lose 1-2 pounds the first week, and maybe the second week 1 more pound. By week three, my husband wants to get pizza on a Friday night. I have persevered this long, but think, “Oh I can eat one slice.” (We all know 1 turns into 2). The results are not as rewarding at weigh in this week. “What!” I think to myself I have been so good for three weeks, and only had two pieces but now the results are not as great as week.one. It is a setback, but real talk – I know where I made my error (a lot of the time we know where we are lacking when we fail, and can go back and double down on that aspect to achieve our goal).

A time that I think back to, when I am struggling, is when I needed to pass the Praxis test for my teaching license in North Carolina. I had already persevered once before in Washington, when I took the NES exam, to obtain my license there. The whole process was nuance in my mind, so I was already going into the test with an attitude of annoyance, (our attitude has a lot to do with how we face our challenges in our life, and I could have taken a different approach to the test, as an opportunity to perfect my teaching craft). Nevertheless, I needed the perseverance to pass the Praxis test. I took it four times before passing it on the fifth attempt. Here is the key and unseen benefits to challenges:

• Trials build confidence. Once we succeed at our failures, we feel like we can accomplish anything thrown our way. I know that once I passed the Praxis test it was relieving but it made me feel so proud of all the hard work, hours of studying, and sacrifice I had made to get there.

• Suffering produces endurance. A great example of this statement is when people workout. Cardio is one of the hardest forms of exercise I do. When my heart rate goes above 176, I consider that suffering. I know it is a choice to keep going. Working our cardio, helps create endurance for a longer race. The more we practice cardio (suffering) the longer we will be able to go during the more difficult race (endurance). The race of life laid before us is unique to us. We have to be mentally prepared to endure trials and tribulations.

• Endurance produces character. When we are going through that suffering stage, we reflect, revise, and change. It is in our brokenness that we rebuild our vision for our life.

• Character produces hope. The hope we have helps us be more motivated than ever before to keep going. The hope that this can actually work out. It is perseverance at its finest.

When things get messy in our lives, we know that something beautiful is on the horizon. I find this truth from faith in God. I also believe that I will not give up myself. When I think of struggle and perseverance, I think of the story of Job. It is a sad story, but it is also an encouragement to know that as bad as it got for him, he still made it through. He was doing well, with a family; consistent blessings were coming in for him, and then everything taken away. He stayed steadfast in his belief that God would bless him again.

People have many hard ships in their life. Sometimes I think about how truly blessed I am, and question why am I even worried about this. Nevertheless, let me reiterate, we are all in different places in life, and what is important to us, might now be important to others. We all go through pain, but it is encouraging to know the steps we use to get through the tough times is a commonality.

Steps to perseverance:

1. Hope:

When I had to persevere through the darkest time in my life (moving home from college because of sexual assault) my sister gave me a bottle with a message in the bottle, which talked about hope. There is always hope for the future. Remember that you are not your mistakes, and that you can become anything that you want.

2. Patience:

Great things take time. We have to be patient, because the struggling times may last a long time. We will persevere during the waiting too.

3. Manifest:

Speak what “will” be today in your life, so that you know exactly what you are striving for. Manifesting encourages the hope for your future, and will enable to you to realize that today’s pain is temporary. Yes, pain and suffering is temporary, but quitting lasts forever.

4. Consistency:

Finding the positive actions in your life and double down on them. In other words you have to apply those skills, gifts, and work ethic consistently to persevere and focus on the good. When I failed my test multiple times, I always reminded myself of what I did and needed to keep doing consistently and that was studying. So remain steadfast on what is working for you.

5. Remember who you are:

When failures happen, we start to believe the lies about ourselves. Maybe it’s internal dialogue or other’s voices telling you these lies, but you have to remember who you are at the core. You are capable of the things you put your mind to. The “why” behind the goal you are pursuing is more true than any other failure/mistake you make.

6. Bravery-Fierce:

You have to be brave to face the struggle head on. Perseverance takes a fierce mindset and it’s not for the weak. So if you find yourself going after something even after you’ve had a hard time achieving it, then you need to commend yourself, because there are some people do quit.

You cannot just quit, you must have perseverance to be a fierce woman.