I haven’t been sleeping well over the past few weeks because Theo (our puppy) hasn’t been sleeping much at all. It feels like I’ve been existing in a state of exhaustion and as someone who’s built a business around the concept of endurance, it’s forced me to think. The first thought that comes to mind is that I have no right to complain about anything related to having a dog because my wife and I chose this hard: we get to raise him, we didn’t have to.
The second thought is around the topic of endurance and that’s what this short blog is about.
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Endurance without purpose is exhaustion.
Having a why is the difference between movement and pursuit. Movement without meaning is unsustainable; it’s exhausting. Pursuit with purpose is powerful; it allows us to have a reason bigger than ourselves to continue on. I would argue that we can create the energy that we need when our driving force is bigger than our barriers – when our perspective goes beyond our immediate circumstances. Like Viktor Frankl once said, “life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.” To endure, we need purpose.
Endurance with direction is resilience.
Effort concentrated in a similar direction over a long period of time allows it to compound. We don’t need to know the exact place we’re headed but we should have a general idea (at the least of where we don’t want to go). Resilience is endurance focused in the same direction over time and like Israelmore Ayivor once said, “do it again and again. Consistency makes the rain drops to create holes in the rock. Whatever is difficult can be done easily with regular attendance, attention and action.” Showing up in the same direction over time is strength.
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If you have no idea why you’re here or where you’re going, just do the next right thing. Let each step reveal the next and trust that action creates clarity (in due time). Here’s a quote that gives endurance a fresh perspective.
“No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God . . . and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire…”
Orson F. Whitney
Endure with purpose.
Joe Rinaldi
IG: @joearinaldi
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