The Process of Persevering

I recently heard about a culture (and immediately forgot which culture it was) in which "struggling" is a good thing. In this culture, the meaning of struggling is coupled with the idea of persevering, such that, if a person is struggling, they're not just having difficulty trying to do something hard; they're withstanding that challenge and facing it relentlessly, with the expectation of triumphantly overcoming it. In that culture (whichever it was), "struggling" is the process of persevering.

We can adopt a similar attitude about our struggles. Our attempts to overcome challenges can be similarly persistent and diligent. With this perspective, we can face our challenges with a determination to see them through to the end, to persevere, and to overcome. So, next time we struggle or see someone else struggle, let's focus on their tenacity rather than their difficulties. We all struggle sometimes. We would do well to see their struggling, and ours, as the process of persevering.