Have Some Grit

Recently, I read Angela Duckworth's book Grit, but I realized that understanding grit from a book isn't enough; true resilience comes from experience.

Grit is something I learned by being up against it. I learned a long time ago that grit was not a word. It was something you built up. When, after school, you are told to pick up wood and put it in the house, or you have no heat for the night. That never happened because if you didn’t do it after school, you were doing it when your father got home.

To be told to do something, no matter how tired you were, you had to finish it, or it could mean something bad might happen. To force yourself to do something that your brain is screaming I am going to die if I don’t stop.

Grit is the name of the program in your being that overrides your mind's propaganda that you will die. Think about this for a second: I take cold showers. Some of you might say, "What is he crazy?" However, once I mentally realized I was not going to die, it was simple to move my thoughts from I am going to die to this is not so bad. Pushing beyond comfort zones like this encourages you to embrace challenges, fostering personal growth and resilience.

Grit got me a cure for my illness. I had to push myself to achieve everything I have accomplished, and, most of all, knowing that because I climbed one mountain, I had to start looking for my next mountain. Recognizing your own progress can build pride and motivate you to keep striving, reinforcing the importance of perseverance.

There is so much suffering in the world, some is warranted, some is a very low tolerance to being up against it. I look at the veterans of any war or service. Boot camp is made to break you down and show you what you are capable of. It teaches you grit.