Endurance

Since we are discussing the difference in concept,

Endurance:
- Permanence or duration;
- the ability to withstand hardship or adversity; especially ability to sustain a prolonged stressful effort or activity;
- the act or instance of enduing or suffering.

Looking at this definition it just sounds like a pretty grim thing, does it not?  Withstand, hardship, stressful effort, suffering.  Hardly the sort of thing that typically strikes one as "something I should be doing more of."

There are good ways that the term is used of course, especially in the pursuit of physical activities - I need to run farther so I can gain the ability to endure long periods of physical labor, for example.  And that is a fine use of the word and to some extent belies the concept of not enduring as a choice - as are the concept of enduring values or legacies (except when one puts it in the concept of withstanding hardship or adversity it becomes a bit more poignant).

Compare this to our discussion yesterday on Perseverance:

Perseverance: Continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition; the action or condition or an instance of persevering; steadfastness.

Note the difference:  trying to achieve something versus withstanding something.  Perseverance is directed towards a goal or objective while endurance is simply withstanding the current set of circumstances with no sense that there is an other side there.

After this review, three items come to mind:

1)  People use the words interchangeably but they are not interchangeable.  We persevere to a goal; we endure a circumstance.

2)   We may grow deeper in circumstances that call for endurance but may never accomplish anything more than survival or existing as the definition of endurance is to persist, not achieve.

3)  Endurance may move us no closer to any of the things we want.

We need to seek situations and relationships where we persevere, not endure.