Perseverance

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

As I had mentioned here I had come up with a word for the year, one which I was going to put various places and use to inspire me in my actions for the year.  A second word, perseverance, came up as something I needed to work on during my review process.

Perseverance.  I suppose not a word that we hear a great deal any more - in fact, as I write this I am trying to think of recent usages of the word that I have heard and am drawing a series of blanks.  That I can think of, it is only used of in two contexts.

The first is the context of the first person, where they have made a decision to persevere through circumstances to reach a particular goal.  This is self-imposed perseverance, the decision of the individual to move forward despite difficulties, failures, or opposition (to quote a definition).

The second is the context of the third person, where perseverance is being asked for or expected of us by others.  In this scenario it is not we ourselves that have made the internal decision to persevere but rather it is a condition that someone else is imposing on us.  "You must persevere"  comes the request or statement "because X needs to be accomplished."

My question is simply this:  can one true be expected to persevere under such circumstances?

Continued effort to do or achieve comes from within, a decision made to move forward no matter what because the end result is worth whatever intervening difficulties must be faced.  This means that we clearly understand what we are trying to accomplish before we are doing it or while we become involved in doing it.  But continued effort, especially when suggested or demanded by another party for a goal which we have truly had no engagement in, becomes less of an activity in moving forward despite obstacles and more of an effort of simply enduring a situation until we arrive.

The difference?  In the first circumstance there is a sense of accomplishment when the thing is achieved, in the second merely a sense of having made it - because quite often the thing which was being achieved that comes from someone else is not a thing that brings a sense of reward or arriving but one more activity that has to be done.

The trick, I suppose, is to find more things that one decides to persevere in that one can directly draw a relationship and benefit from.  If one is clever, one can find the direct linkage in most things we become involved in - somehow. It is teasing out that thing which is to be endured for that becomes the effort and constantly keeping that in the foresight of our activities.

Which causes me to close on a warning note to those who lead others:  be most careful when you ask others to persevere in causes or efforts not primarily their own.  You will find one of two results:  there will either be a grudging acceptance and endurance which brings no joy but only a constant struggle to stay enthused or a discovery of deep character reserves and the need to persevere in that which truly matters to them - which will often be followed by them following those things that matter.