One more rep. One more set…

You may notice that we talk a lot about perseverance here.  There’s a reason for that.  If you want to thrive as a man, you have to learn to become resilient so that when you experience a setback, you have the grit and determination to get back up and try again.

We live in a fallen world, and as a result, things go wrong.  We spill soup on our favorite shirts. Thieves steal from us.  We get passed over for jobs or promotions.  Relationships break, or simply fade.  Loved ones die.  Clearly, some setbacks are merely annoying, while others are devastating.  But without resilience — the mindset that we won’t let circumstances defeat us — we can be neutralized and miss the opportunity to make our mark on a world that needs us to be men.

The following is a poem I first read on a visit to my grandparents’ house — and read again on many subsequent visits.  It may sound a bit dated, but I have found myself recalling its message often throughout my life to this point.  Here it is:

YOU MUSTN’T QUIT

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh
When care is pressing you down a bit
Rest! if you must — but never quit.

Life is queer, with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won if he’d stuck it out;
Stick to your task, though the pace seems slow —
You may succeed with one more blow.

Success is failure turned inside out —
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt —
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit —
It’s when things seem worst that you mustn’t quit.

                                                        -Author Unknown

So how about you?  What is your battle right now, and what steps are you taking to become more resilient?  Add your comments below.