Perseverance is one of those words I always need to think twice about when spelling it. Which is it?
- Preseverance,
- Perseverance, or
- Perservence
The beginning and middle get confusing.
As I was struggling with “perseverance” the other day, my spelling skirmish struck me with the value of the differences. In my confusion, clarity glimmered. To persevere, we need to:
- Preserve certain principles
- Sever certain ties
- Serve in all we do
All three variations deliver a punch to what perseverance really means.
Preserve.
When times get tough, we need center ourselves and lean into our soul for strength and power. There are principles, philosophies, and values that keep us going through the years, and we need to re-engage them. Tough times happen. We need to preserve our core beliefs no matter what is thrown our way.
Sever.
The other side of this is our need to cut-off things that are holding us back. This isn’t divorce or abandonment. It is about releasing the thoughts that keep us bound up. It is about keeping the people at a distance who may be distracting us. It is about unloading past burdens holding us back from our new, meaningful life adventures.
Serve.
When we engage a community, we all grow. A servant leader mindset empowers us and changes more lives than we may know. Serving strengthens our spirit and lifts our mindset to focus on what matters.
Perseverance is about struggle, even in its spelling. Most importantly, perseverance is about preserving our core, severing what is unimportant, and serving in our community.
Perseverance. No matter how we spell it, we learn.
How do you spell perseverance in your life challenges and successes?
You’re not alone, Jon. I have a difficult time spelling perseverance as well. Usually, spell check has to come to my rescue by highlighting it with that squiggly red line, as if it’s telling me, “Uh, dude… give that another glance over.” 😀
No matter how we spell it though, the meaning is definitely a crucial one that we remind ourselves in those tough times. Here lately, I’ve been having a lot of them, but this post is both encouraging and inspiring. A very sharpening reminder.
Great share! Thanks mate.
Thanks, Deone. Appreciate it, and look forward to your continuing series on mastering life. Thanks! Jon
Hi Jon.
I’m grateful that what resulted from your skirmish, was in fact an insightful reminder of 3 responsibilities I have to myself and to those around me.
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you, Nic. It just proves the point that we can find lessons in our challenges! Jon
I love this post. Really makes me think about the word and all the segments of the word. Thank you.
Thank you, Dawn. Appreciate it! Jon
This is a wonderful post Jon! I particularly connected to your description of unloading past burdens holding us back from new adventures. It can be so hard to persevere when we are caught in quick sand. And I loved your point about being true to our values and self. Thank you for sharing! Terri
Thanks so much for your feedback, Terri! Have a great week ahead! Jon
Good one. The term comes alive when you delve into it, as you have – you break it apart, yet come back to the wholeness of it. I find to help people re connect with virtues from which they may feel disconnected at times (such as perseverance), I ask them to remember a situation in the past when they demonstrated that quality. I invite them to tell the story of when they successfully persevered delivering a positive result for them and others. As they recall their story of perseverance, they reconnect to all the factors that contributed to their experience of living with perseverance, and voila, they reconnect with it.
I like that approach, Robyn. Through our experiences and stories, we make these connections yet they fade over time. Remembering them does strengthen us and renews our perseverance. Great insights. Thanks! Jon
I happen to love what I call “The P Words” and one of them indeed is perseverance. The others are persistence and passion. Together, they are the tools I use and I fear our children do NOT have in their arsenals!
Great words to add into the mix, Bruce. Passing on these P words is a vital thing to do; we just need to keep practicing them and our examples may have more of an impact than we think… I guess that goes back to the P words! Thank you for adding your insights. Jon
Such a clever post. I needed a dose of perseverance today, so thank you!
Thanks, Molly. Appreciate it!