Learning Perseverance: The More You Fall, the Harder it is to Keep Getting Up

Most of us like to think that life is — at least to some extent — a "meritocracy" of sorts: That is, if we do right and work hard, we will enjoy at least a measure of success.

We are taught this not only by family and friends, but also by our culture and societal messages.

And, in the broadest interpretation, there's a lot of veracity to that assumption.

However, what "they" don't teach you, and what you will not likely find in motivational workshops and self-help books is that life — and its outcomes — often involve a substantial measure of luck/fortune... in other words, the outcome is partially guided by factors you have absolutely no control over.

This is where perseverance becomes an important part of the mix of life success.

There's an old truism that when you "fall off a horse," you just have to pick yourself up and get back on!

What "they" also don't tell you is that it does get harder to pick yourself up and keep going, with each successive time you feel like you have been knocked down.

Of course, personality plays an important part in how well (or not) people handle adversity. Not everyone has the "stomach" for toiling away only to experience one setback after another, without much sign that things are getting better as a result of their hard work.

I remember quite a few years back... early 2017... slowly watching our Steem token decline, and decline, and decline till we dipped below $0.07, leaving many wondering whether it was really worth it. Many found it hard to keep going, and just gave up.

That's just one example.

Most of my life I have been wrestling with repeated hardships as a small business owner... experiencing far more failure than success... although some would argue that since I am still self-employed after 25+ years, I must actually be successful.

Maybe I'm just stubborn! Then again, maybe I just don't have the nerve to go back to work in an employer/employee setting... the last four companies I actually worked for either went bankrupt (thereby ending my job) or ended up downsizing for economic reasons (thereby ending my job).

Therein lies the core of this post's title... the more you fall/fail, the harder it becomes to pick yourself up and keep going, particularly if you don't experience some success in between the failures.

"Luck" is a very interesting "X factor" within our lives... and one we often prefer to not think about because the idea that our existence might be partly a matter of chance can be rather unappealing!

All I can say is that perseverance matters! It particularly matters if you have been experiencing a period in which it seems difficult to get anything to go right.

I share this both as a piece of general life advice, as well as encouragement to "hang in there" after this last set of crypto market declines sent our native Steem token down to 15 cents.

Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

How about YOU? Are you good at keeping going, even after repeated failures/disappointments? Do leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — NOT A CROSSPOST!!!)
Created at 20221217 23:43 PDT
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