We’ve often heard the saying: “When the going gets tough the tough get going.”
Have you ever asked where exactly do the “tough” go? They get going but get going to where? I have had to ask myself that question. “ShaQ where do the “tough” go when the going meets a rough patch?
The “tough” may be going somewhere but the “going” tags right along behind them. Why? Because the purpose of the “going” is to teach the “tough” a lesson and if they don’t face it, that lesson has a tendency to creep up in some other way. Have you ever ran away from a situation and encountered it again at a later point in life? In that moment, did you have an epiphany about all the things you could have learned if only you endured the rough patch at its initial sighting? If you’re shaking your head yes, then I feel you. I’m not sure what your “tough going” may look like right now but here’s a gentle reminder that it’s there to grow you. You may see it as a mountain but that mountain can become a stepping stone and more importantly a lesson.
Now, I’m not saying to try to take on every battle you face because we need to know which battles to engage and which to identify as a test of what we’ve learned. What I am saying, is that each challenge presents a lesson or a reminder that you’ve been there and overcome before.
Personally, I had to change my perspective on the “tough going”. I had to develop the correct perspective of rough patches and work on discerning when to fight and when to recall how I overcame before. Is your back against a wall? Are you currently faced with a rough patch that seems to be getting the best of you? Consider these points when you are feeling as though you want to run:
- What is the lesson in the rough patch?
- What can I take away from enduring this season?
- Who will need my testimony after weathering the storm?
We’ve focused on the “tough gets going” that we start to run before assessing the problem. We miss out on the purpose of the challenge and the opportunity to grow; in fact, a lot of character is developed by persevering. Years later, be assured the “tough going” will swing by again and it is at this moment that we see how strong or weak we are based on how we decided to deal with the challenge. I’m not a professional as yet 🙂 but my instincts tell me that if we change our perspective from picking up and disappearing whenever the “going gets tough” to adopting a perspective of – what can the going can teach me? This shift will not only make us stronger individuals but it will develop some backbone so that we can withstand future rough patches
Don’t let your opportunity pass you by. “When the going gets tough..the going produces endurance until the end.”
Shaquille 🦋
Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen
