The current state of affairs has me thinking a lot about persistence. When is the last time you thought much about how persistence has shaped your life? At the risk of being contrived, let’s see what the definition of the word is…

Ooh, those are good.

First there is “firm or obstinate continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition.”

Did you catch that? In spite of difficulty or opposition… the difficulty or opposition is the whole point. But you’ve overcome difficult things before, haven’t you. I mean, where you are professionally, that was hard. That tells me you have persistence. In fact it proves it.

Then we have what is maybe my favorite of the two, “the continued or prolonged existence of something.” Psst… that’s you. You even being here, on this earth, means that you’ve been persistent. Don’t you love that?

Why all the talk about persistence? Well, because all of us are going through extraordinary times right now. It is easy to sometimes feel like we may not make it through, to feel like we may not have a business to return to once this is all over. Times feel so uncertain, but this I know for certain… YOU have the persistence you need to come out of this time stronger and better. Sometimes all you need is to remember that your persistence exists.

Just before this whole coronavirus extravaganza got really going I attended a conference with Rachel Hollis called RISE. If you haven’t heard of Rachel you have for sure been living under a rock and you need to find her books and read them ASAP.

As we dove into our past and how it shapes who we are now she recommended writing a letter from our persistence. Writing that letter I was crying like a baby, remembering all the times that I hit a wall, faced a disappointment, or had to get through something hard and how I always found a way to persevere. It was so powerful to remind me of my strength and resilience.

I am sharing with you what I wrote that day because I am proud of what I’ve persisted through. You should be proud too. Mayne what you need right now is to write a letter from your own persistence, a letter to help you remember your strength and know that you WILL make it through because you already have that persistence inside you.