Endure the Adventure

He stared ahead, as if I wasn’t there. As he gazed right through me, I interrupted his preoccupation. I chose a typical, I-don’t-know-what-else-to-say- phrase, and asked, “Are you okay?”

I already knew the answer.

He already knew the answer.

He was there with me to talk about not being okay.

But, before we took the dialog any deeper, he stared. His eyes toward me, but not at me. He was fixed in something beyond what was there.

After moments of waiting, he answered. “You know I’m not okay,” he said. “But right now, I feel stuck. I don’t know if I will ever achieve my goals. What’s the use in trying so hard if I can’t reach my destination?”

His words held weight. His closing question carried an answer deep inside. For him, yes. For me, also. For all of us.
“What’s the use in trying so hard if I can’t reach my destination?”

A balanced life selects endurance. It means not quitting when things are tough. It declares that abandoning an adventure leaves us missing out on the balance of facing fears and fighting through them, of noticing reluctance and resisting its lure, of feeling worthless and choosing to begin believing again in our value.

It is not stopping, not deserting, not giving up. It is not denying the desire to resign, though. Those feelings are normal. They come with the process. They visit us while we push toward completion. We feel fear, we feel like a failure, we feel like this isn’t for us. Our self-talk says, “What’s the use in trying so hard if I can’t reach my destination?”

Instead of a conclusion, just end a sentence to begin a new paragraph. Let that next clause return you to your true cause. Remember why you started the journey. Recall who you are. Believe again that you matter. Trusting again that enduring to the end also matters. When you feel no desire to endure, take a break and begin renewing your strength. Write down who you are. Write down why you do what you do. Rest a moment. Renew your view about yourself and your life. Close your eyes long enough to open them again. Conclude your present sentence long enough to believe your new line is fresh, inspiring, worth the sore muscles and heavy breathing.