What is Grit?
You know how it is with some people who love preparing for everything? You prep for the week, for work, exercise, children, food, sudden emergencies etc. and then suddenly you get hit broadside by something you knew could happen. But somehow all that prepping doesn’t really help with the dealing of the situation. If it’s an illness – you gotta endure. We are so used to popping pills and looking for quick cures that we have no idea how to let our bodies naturally deal and heal.
And this is what happens when you prepare only externally. Preparing your mind is really something else. I have found that some situations in life have to be dealt with in a slow and steady manner or just left to the elements because you have done all you can.
All the while, you know you have to deal with this in your head – first and foremost. Because no matter who is around you and who is there for you, you still have to acknowledge and accept for yourself. And herein lies grit – the ability to still persevere and continue on despite a lot of setbacks. Grit is what keeps you going when you want to give up, when you feel at your lowest and when despair threatens to take over. Grit is what keeps you trudging with faith and a faint hope that you can and you will. And somehow grit is never really taught – it should be. Because enduring, dealing, persevering and overcoming are very much started and finished in the mind first.
This is why sports teams can be the fittest and the most experienced and still lose if their mindset does not work. Grit is something hard to have because some days things can be very hard and debilitating. But finding that resolve somewhere to keep persevering is very important.
And this is something we should look at teaching children – because grit will see you through a lot more than just exam results and doing well. Grit will tide you over the hard days and help you endure as you live life in the quest for your best self. Some may say grit cannot be taught – but at least we must try or persevere in our attempt to do so.
