acceptance X perseverance
perseverance
NOUN
steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.
acceptance
NOUN
agreement with or belief in an idea, opinion, or explanation.
willingness to tolerate a difficult or unpleasant situation.
In the past couple of months, I have been making a conscious effort to truly understand the meaning of these two words and apply them to my daily life. And recently; I've been hit (in a good way) with the benefits from doing so. Prior to these two words, I was in my own personal kind of Hell. In terms of acceptance, I wasn't sure how to get over demons from my past. In terms of perseverance, I wasn't sure how to put in hard work to my side projects without pushing myself over the edge like I did in college. I don't want to bore you with my own personal details; but here's a quick breakdown of how implementing acceptance and perseverance into your life can be the boost you need to get on the right track.
Acceptance: the key to getting over anything. "Willingness to tolerate a difficult or unpleasant situation". Life, as you know, is rough a fair amount of the time. It's a series of glorious highs and devastating lows. We accept the highs with no questions asked; but the lows have a knack for setting us back in life because we don't accept them. The things we accept in life are like veggies; easy to digest, promotes wellness, etc. And the things we don't (or can't) accept in life are like McDonald's french fries you forgot about; they stay right where you left them and disturbingly fresh. You must seek out the hypothetical forgotten fries and throw them away. Okay, what I'm really trying to say is that your demons (unresolved, unaccepted things from your past) will be with you your whole life. You must seek them out and accept them - accept them for making you who you are today and then move on, let it go. Trust me, you'll feel like a new person.
Perseverance: the key to success. "Steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success." Just do what you do, do it everyday (even if it's only for five minutes), and keep on doing it. For those of you who don't know, I went to an art & design college. The workload was heavy, deadlines were short, and I became accustomed to some of the most awful work habits. Because of my workload and lack of balance, I was forced to work on projects mere days before they were due, which typically meant I wasn't sleeping for those mere days. I felt like one of those dancing things outside of a car dealership; I could not get my life together. These habits were such a turnoff to me that when I graduated I swore off working on anything art related for a year. A YEAR! Before that year was even up, I realized how bored I was without my own creative ventures on the side; so I starting brainstorming ways to introduce it back into my routine in a healthy way. I bought a brand new sketchbook; and for the first few weeks, it never moved from the spot I left it. "Shouldn't I want to sketch?" I asked myself one day, staring at the book. The answer for me, is no. For me, routine is key, and I had been out of the routine of keeping a sketchbook since my teachers stopped forcing me to keep one in college. This is when perseverance became a word I wanted to live by. I didn't want to drown myself in hours of forced sketching once a week, which is how I would have done things in college (and surprisingly this habit was hard to break, even though that lifestyle does not appeal to me at all ). I wanted to make it a routine. I wanted it to be held on the same account as brushing my teeth or washing my face in a day; a necessary habit. I started timing myself to kick start the training for introducing a new habit; 30 minutes a day of uninterrupted (no reaching for my phone, no mindless procrastinating) sketching. If I broke any rules while the timer was on, I had to reset it and keep on sketching. This regiment caught sketching up to my other habits quickly, and in no time I didn't need the structure of setting a timer. Here I am a year later with three or four filled sketchbooks to prove how hard I've worked over the past year. I didn't think about it then, but those sketchbooks have since proved to be an extremely valuable part of my portfolio; in fact, I just got my first REAL (not freelance) assistant apparel design job with these sketchbooks. Okay, and myself and my portfolio. I know all the credit can't go to my sketchbooks; but I'm just so proud of my dedication, self-discipline and perseverance.
If you read this and need advice or guidance on anything please feel free to reach out to me.
*this was a blog post from my old site: originally posted 06-25-15
