Perseverance Demonstrates Strength
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Difficulties are part of life.
I knew when I started looking into the possibility of building a blog website, I would undoubtedly experience difficulty at times. But, after a series of rapid setbacks, right at the start of setting up Improvementals, I began to feel dismayed. Then I realized, our perseverance during difficulties defines our strength.
I reminded myself, if blogging was simple, there would be little value, and even less satisfaction in achieving blog-success! You see, the difficulties we encounter along the “journey,” add value to the “destination.” As such, difficulty and perseverance make us strong.
Therefore, we need not allow difficulties to negatively influence our life-satisfaction. And we certainly must not allow struggles to waver our confidence, nor to stop us from achieving our goals!
Christopher Bergland of The Athlete’s Way explains the relationship between perseverance and the brain’s reward chemical, Dopamine. He advises, “Because all animals instinctively seek pleasure and avoid pain, you have to flip your perspective on perseverance 180-degrees and view struggle and perseverance as a doorway to pleasure.” (Bergland, 2011) Read the full article here.
“The difficulties we encounter along the journey add value to the destination.”
Chrystal Taylor Nelson, M.A.
How to Improve Your Perseverance Despite Difficulties:
Although we may tend to view problems as insurmountable, with a bit of effort, we can actually improve our responses to stressors. On Your Better Life, Gregg Williams, MFT provides four actions for us to take in tough times, to help us not give up.
Follow these suggestions for any time you need a boost:
1. Remind yourself that you are capable of overcoming your present struggles. Then, make a list of times in your life in which perseverance helped you to survive. Keep your list in a safe place and read over it anytime you start to feel overwhelmed. Your list will help strengthen your determination.
2. Purposely tell yourself to focus only upon what you can accomplish today. Do not allow yourself to dwell on fears about the future. This keeps your energy flowing toward the goals you can actually work toward at present.
3. Connect to positive emotion regarding your goals. For example, “I’m doing this because I want to provide a good life for my family’ or ‘because I want to help others less fortunate than me’ or ‘because my beloved deserves a loving partner.’” (Williams, 2017)
4. Improve yourself on purpose. Spend about 15 minutes in a place where you can relax, and on an activity you enjoy. Whatever activity leaves you feeling more centered and ready to achieve your goals, do this.
There may never be a short supply of setbacks in life, so bear in mind this:
Thus, difficulty and perseverance make us strong.
If you’d like to know more about me, or perhaps about Improvementals, please visit the Improvementals About Page, and then maybe check out, An Inborn Need for Personal Improvement (1st Blog Post). And, for even more wellness-boosting, please check out my recent post, How Healthy Food Affects the Body & Mind.