Endurance gets related to sports, a whole lot. It appears in other areas of life, too, we just aren’t taught to see it, or train it up. Fact is, no matter how motivated you are by something, there will be a day when you need your endurance to get through some of it. The best part of endurance is that it can be trained!

What is endurance, anyway?

Definition of endurance

1 : the ability to withstand hardship or adversity especially : the ability to sustain a prolonged stressful effort or activity a marathon runner’s endurance
2 : the act or an instance of enduring or suffering endurance of many hardships
3 : permanence, duration

We set our goals, break them into pieces so we have mile markers, and go chasing after them. Then we end up feeling like failures because we have goals we didn’t reach. Endurance pulls you to your goals.

How do we train endurance, then?

Just as we learn patience by being patient in situations where we’d rather be impatient, we learn endurance by being in situations where it is required.

Medical challenges, miserable work conditions, difficult relationships, major life changes, and so many other things are training grounds for endurance. It doesn’t mean you have to stay in those places, it means you have an opportunity to grow while you’re there.

In our goals, endurance kicks in when the grunt work appears. It makes us keep going, one step at a time, until we can appreciate the rewarding feeling of hitting those mile markers and reaching the goal.

Yes, I'm posting this today because I'm having to lean on my endurance. I don't want to go to the day job. I need to write, but I'm stuck again - and feeling kind of like giving up on the story though I know I won't. My motivation is low, but I know I can trust my endurance to get me through today. Who knows, something good may come of it. If nothing else, I'll have my pay and won't lose my job because I want to be a throw pillow today.

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