The Greater Danger - 5/3/19

Endurance.

We watch movies about it. We listen to songs about it. We write books about it. There is nothing more compelling in a story than an underdog being tested, overcoming challenge, and becoming victorious. Act I, II, and III. It’s the concept that roots the foundation of what it is to be a respectable human being, that makes up the human spirit, and what drives others in our tribe to ask more of themselves and to achieve success. 

What does it mean to have endurance?

According to Google, the definition of endurance is “the fact or power of enduring an unpleasant or difficult process or situation without giving way.”

Unpleasant. Difficult. But for how long?

An endurance athlete might say hours. Military training could be days. Entrepreneurs? Years. Those with disabilities, a lifetime?

The fact is that the situation and duration is different for everyone and for everything. But nonetheless, one must not give way. The pain can be seconds or years. It can be physical, emotional, financial, mental, or a combination. It fucking hurts. 

Don’t give in.

It’s not suppose to be easy. How do we train ourselves with the right bulletproof discipline to accomplish what we want to achieve when the pain sinks in? How do we not simply react and let it affect those close to us negatively?

We hear stories of billionaires living out of cars, being homeless, going bankrupt, and literally going bust. But all we see are their million-dollar houses and fancy cars. We forget the failures, the dumpster diving, the food stamps, and the midnight tears. How did they find the strength to continue when everyone they love and know has left? What would they say in the moment? How did they know they would come out of it? 

We can ask them. They can tell us years down the line when they’ve made it. But for us to truly know the experience it first hand, we must persist through our own encounters.

Just start. Keep going.

We never truly know what another person has gone through. What it feels like. Even people who are in the same experience can process it differently. I don’t know what it was like to be in a shooting. Others will never know what it is like to be in a murder trial lasting months and sitting behind your mother’s killer each one of those days. But that is not what is important. 

What is important is that we keep rooting for each other.

Don’t give up.

Sometimes when I’ve had really bad weeks, I ask myself if it could get any worse. After a sobbing “no, it can’t,” I realized that the truth is almost always “yes, it can.” I scream my guts out, wipe my tears, and get back up. Keep driving. I have potential. Many do not.

I sometimes think about what Elon would have written about when in the same year ran out of money from throwing all his personal wealth into SpaceX and Tesla, with all three Falcon 1s exploding and Tesla not selling enough Roadsters that quarter. He was borrowing $200k a month from his friends, risking friendships along the line, and also going through a divorce. What if that last rocket launch, which secured a $1.8 billion NASA contract, hadn’t been successful? But it’s those things you don’t hear about from so many people around you.

My point is you have to make the difficult choice to put yourself in that position. To take the risk, and a long one at that. Many will say those aren’t smart choices. “You should get something more stable.” “No, I can’t help you.” “You should be more realistic.” 

What is the greater danger?

I continue to make the choice each day to starve, cry, and fight because I know the story that I want to play out is just in the second Act.

It is just the beginning…

Fuck yeah, it’s Friday!

Sisyphus