I’ve come to the conclusion that hardships and struggles are an inevitable component of life. Assuming someone lives to be 80, that is a lot of time to spend on this Earth, and going so long without encountering any sort of challenge is highly improbable, and furthermore is highly unrealistic. Life is unexpected, unpredictable, stressful and emotional, and it isn’t necessarily meant to be easy, though I’m sure a lot of us wish it was.
While we could interpret the unavoidable obstacles in life to be negative, they really aren’t. In fact, I would argue the complete opposite, because without privation, we wouldn’t be forced to grapple with and overcome these very obstacles and develop the highly valuable skill known as perseverance in the process.
I’ve been raised to comprehend the significance and importance of perseverance, and I’m glad as hell I have. From a young age my sister and I were taught that when shit gets rough and you hit the dirt, you get up, wipe yourself off and get right back up on the very horse that threw you off. Resilience is of astronomical importance when it comes to navigating life, and without it, it’s far too easy and too tempting to walk down a long and twisting path of self-pity.
We live in a society that is, in my opinion, very much geared towards issuing sympathy to those who encounter hardship. Is this a bad thing? No, of course not. But, delving out sympathy as if it is a casual and meaningless thing to anyone and everyone isn’t a beneficial process as it can encourage people to rely on sympathy and pity to overcome challenges, losing dependency and their perseverance along the way.
Tenacity and endurance are skills all of us should possess. After all, failure isn’t falling down; it is refusing to get back up again.
ontheedgeofeverything 