- What Is Positive Psychology?
- Take our Optimism Test
- Find a therapist near me
Key points
- Perseverance often means steady faithfulness, not dramatic acts of courage.
- Forward motion—no matter how slow—is vital when facing crushing obstacles.
- Studies show perseverance and optimism can help reduce anxiety, depression, and panic.
“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.”— Martin Luther King, 1960
I’ve been crawling a lot of late
I’m not alone in this. Life, at times, offers all of us a haversack of trials—crushing burdens in the moment and beyond
And we think of giving up
I’m not saying my challenges are any tougher than others, but just sayin’: in my case, fighting off advancing and bruising Alzheimer’s, cancer, black hole depression, and the death of a son in 2022. No parent should ever have to bury a child
Some days, the urge just to give up is overwhelming, as the body feels frozen in the moment and the demons are snapping. But I’m trying not to take the bait, and think often of others struggling
I’m encouraged by Albert Einstein, who said: “You never fail until you stop trying.”
As an aging jock, 76 now, I don’t want to stop trying. So, I’m fighting forward, but can’t say it’s easy in any way
We all find discernment in many ways. I was raised Irish Catholic, both mother and father with deep Irish roots (47 of 48 branches of our family tree from Erie). I’m now a bit more evangelical, though I haven’t forgotten my roots
I’m not preaching, just trying to connect; we all come from different places
I recently saw the blockbuster summer movie The Odyssey—Director Chris Nolan’s account of the ancient epic about the hero Odysseus trying to return home to his wife and son after serving in the Trojan War and the interminable string of hurdles in his path. Bloodied but unbowed, as William Henley writes in his epic poem “Invictus,” Odysseus never gave up, and through remarkable perseverance, he finally makes it home
Doug Scalise, my pastor on Outer Cape Cod, emphasized the drive of Odysseus in his Sunday sermon to underscore the faith needed to persevere in life. “There’s something deeply admirable about refusing to quit,” Scalise said. “Sometimes we imagine perseverance as dramatic acts of courage. Occasionally it is. More often it looks like quiet faithfulness over a lifetime.”
Added Scalise, “Have you ever had a week where every day brings another problem, another disappointment, another phone call telling you something you didn’t want to hear?” In a reference to the New Testament Book of Hebrews, he says: “Faith in everything requires perseverance.”
As a wholly imperfect person, I’m trying to find my way out of a valley of depression without wavering. Scalise once reinforced to me that one can’t helicopter out of such a serpentine valley; you have to walk it out
We often find perseverance in different ways, though forward motion is forward motion
Experts say perseverance is the confluence of passion and lasting stamina and is more critical in life than talent or intelligence
The American Psychological Association notes: “People who don’t give up on their goals (or who get better over time at not giving up on their goals) and who have a positive outlook appear to have less anxiety and depression and fewer panic attacks, according to a study of thousands of Americans over the course of 18 years.”
- What Is Positive Psychology?
- Take our Optimism Test
- Find a therapist near me
The study, published by the American Psychological Association in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, says: “Perseverance cultivates a sense of purposefulness that can create resilience against, or decrease, current levels of major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder.”
Lead author of the study, Nur Hani Zainal, M.S., from Pennsylvania State University, notes: “Looking on the bright side of unfortunate events has the same effect because people feel that life is meaningful, understandable and manageable…Our findings suggest that people can improve their mental health by raising or maintaining high levels of tenacity, resilience and optimism.”
Positive Psychology Essential Reads
Moral Virtues in Context
Supergirl and the Purpose Hidden in Small Things
No one said it would be easy…Something to be said for baby steps
As Rev. King once observed, “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”
Had Odysseus not persevered, had he given up, symbolically he’d still be in the Trojan Horse
Not a good place for any of us
