Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races, one after another.
Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races, one after another.
WALTER ELLIOTT
Do you have what it takes to hang in there for the long haul?
Life is distorted through whatever filters we opt to view it through. In one perspective, we are able to view life from the wide angle. We see it for all of the chapters we have lived to date, and we forecast our hopes and dreams atop all of the chapters we are anticipating will follow.
While both perspectives are equally valid, we are wise to view our lives through each of the respective filters, knowing that each filter creates a different lens through which to view our opportunities, disappointments, expectations, fears, hopes and dreams.
One filter enables us to counter the current stress upon our shoulders, while another filter empowers us to keep pushing forward, expecting an outcome of significance that will ultimately shape our destiny.
To Walter’s point above, we are able to forecast where we are going, though an understanding how and why. This perspective foretells the chapters we are likely to face, the obstacles which we must overcome and the potential windfalls that await us at the other end of the course that we are navigating. But equally important are the short chapters, the daily doses of running that course, and the continuous battle to keep life in balance all the while.
If we are able to use the long distance perspective as our proverbial carrot, beckoning us ever forward towards bringing our hopes and dreams to life, we are more able to surpass the daily hurdles and obstacles that we encounter along the way. These may bring us huge disappointment and sorrow. They may create frustrations and conflicts through which we must navigate. They may appear to be so ominous as to potentially threaten any hope of achieving our long term goal. But in the course of working through each of these, we are in fact, maintaining the perseverance that is required to get to our predetermined finish line.
Sometimes, the overarching large picture is too overwhelming to shoulder on a particular day of the journey. Even to contemplate the entire path ahead appears to be so dreary as to wipe all optimism from our being and leave us bereft of emotion and motivation. On those days, we are well served to stay myopically focused on solely the matters at hand for that particular day. Those clearly are the short races. Our ability to negate the fear and potential disappointment that looms over us on the harder chapters is the ammunition required to win the long race.
It truly is a question of maintaining composure, dignity, perspective and determination, all propelled by tenacity, that will carry us through the full journey. Fighting each battle as they arise along the way is the core secret to getting to the long term destination.
Happy Sunday!
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