Inky Johnson calls it ‘the process’. He says you have to love it or you won’t get anywhere.
You have to commit to it and love it.
You have to love to edit. Rehearse. Love to practice.
You have to push through. Everyday.
Without exception.
One day at a time. One hour at a time.
Sometimes, one breath at at time.
Through ups and downs.
Through sickness. Disappointment. Through failure.
Through sunny days as much as frigid days.
Through winter and summer.
Through it all you have to develop the tenacity of persistence.
You must summon a divine patience.
Unwavering commitment.
An inner will others fail to unearth.
But this doesn’t mean you are special. It doesn’t mean you’re particularly gifted. It just means you have the tenacity to finish what you started.
And it all just boils down to persistence.
Tenacity. Patience. Persistence.
You have to think about the end, but you can’t get there until tomorrow.
But there is work to be done today. Work that cannot wait.
Important work. Meaningful work.
Work that you can’t afford to miss.
Because if it ligers til tomorrow, you won’t be able to get to the next thing, and the next thing, and the next thing.
You won’t know what you need to know. You won’t learn what you should have learned. You won’t see what you were meant to see.
Persistence helps you get unstuck.
It helps you gain perpetual motion.
Persistence helps you adjust course precisely because you are always moving.
But why do so many people lack in persistence?
Why are they in love with the results but abhor the process?
Why do we embrace heroes and fail to become heroines?
It’s worth the time to contemplate.
I think you’re important.
I think what you have to offer the world is important.
I think your dreams are worth some tenacity and persistence.
Oodles and oodles of tenacity and persistence.
Don’t get discouraged.
Don’t see failure as a sign to stop and pack up.
As an indication to leave and go somewhere else.
You will make mistakes because you are never meant to know and see what you were never meant to know and see. You were given the task to make educated guesses. To act on a hunch. To test your hypothesis. You were born to make the best decision you can, with whatever you were given and whatever time that you’ve got.
There is a great deal of stuff we face each and every day and it gets overwhelming sometimes. It is often beyond our control. Outside our force of influence. Things happen for a reason, which is strange, why we are so willing to shoulder so much of the blame for everything. Why we think we have failed, when in fact mistakes are things, not people.
I’m not suggesting that we avoid personal responsibility and hide from our morality.
Far from it.
I’m suggesting that we are often too hard on ourselves when we happen to make a mistake. Far too harsh when we fail. Without good reason because failure is just part of the process. An opportunity to learn. An invitation for growth. A chance to go back and go left when we went right.
Life calls for persistence.
It calls for much tenacity of persistence.
Life tests your resolve with obstacles that are not meant to punish you or keep you down, but to challenge you. To help you overcome yourself and make you a more pleasant and complete human being.
You’re important.
We need the very best of you.
Summon your tenacity and be persistent.
Embrace ‘the process’
Keep going.
