Commitment through Adversity
Instant Gratification
The word "commit" may have many uses, but all of them share the same baseline meaning of, basically, "sticking with, or sticking to, something or someone." It's such a simple word, but it seems like in our society today, we have such a hard time giving life to this concept. Our society is so eager to simply give up and move on when things get hard. I suppose it's easy to see how this happened- after all, we live in a world of instant gratification these days. We want what we want at the very moment that we want it and, when we don't get it, we either shut down and pout or we go somewhere else to get it. Back in our parents', grandparents' and even great-grandparents' days, life was significantly more challenging and the virtues of patience and fortitude were elementally woven into their daily lives.
As a casual observer of the world around me, I see the spoiled, bratty need for instant gratification all of the time. I see it in workplaces, relationships, and hell, I even see it in how we treat our property.
For example- a new guy at work doesn't get the promotion that he wanted, so he gets mad, pouts, then quits to go work somewhere else; a couple hits a rough patch and, instead of working through their problems, decide to throw in the towel and split up. As a society, we barely even commit to the things we have- we live in constant debt because we never commit to paying off that new motorcycle or car- something newer comes out and we want it, or something breaks and we don't want to take the time to fix it.
Anything worth having, is worth keeping
I'm just old enough to remember a time when people would buy a vehicle, pay it off and keep it running until they couldn't ride or drive it anymore. I'm of the mindset of, when you have problems in your relationship, you talk them out and fix them instead of giving up on 5, 10, or even 30 years, of history together. I also believe that every job worth doing, requires constant commitment, then recommitment when things get hard or you have setbacks. Adversity makes us better. Setbacks make us stronger. Endurance isn't gained by giving up and success isn't achieved by quitting when things get difficult.
You have to do more than simply want something; you have to work for it. Then, once you have it, you have to keep working to keep it.
The bottom line is: life isn't easy and it isn't supposed to be. We don't learn and become better whenever things are easy- we learn and grow through adversity. You have to commit to whatever or whoever it is that you are involved with, to whatever goals you want to achieve in your 75 good years of life. You have to embrace the adversities in your life and in your careers, and work harder and become better, after every time you fail.
You also have to stay committed- consistently committed. Once you find that thing that you want- be it the career path, the relationship, the travel plans or, maybe just that motorcycle you want to add to your garage... start working for it. Once you get it, keep working to keep it, because depending on what it is- there is almost always someone else that wants it, too.
