Perseverance: When to Stay in a Fight

I pulled off the Bee Sting this week. While grappling my opponent’s sword, I swung my sword behind my back and stabbed him in his side (Our swords have rounded tips and we wear lots of protective gear. No one got hurt, in fact, we were both laughing!). It's a move that has been used against me many times. This was the first time I used it against someone else.

I studied. I practiced. I recognized my moment and I took it. Perseverance paid off and I'm still riding that high days later.

Because for me, perseverance hasn't always come through. Things I've spent years working on didn't pan out. Relationships that I trusted and nurtured fell apart. I have walked away from dreams that demanded constant strategy and sacrifice. It's hard for me to see all that effort and think it wasn't wasted.

So when I pulled off the Bee Sting, it felt good. It reminded me that sometimes hard work matters. Sometimes, the reward exists.

But not every time. And how do we know when to persevere and when to walk away?

It's not as simple as, “So long as you're still having fun,” though I wish that were so. There's no appropriate amount of time to dedicate to a task when we all move at different paces. And sometimes, it's only after an earth-shattering heartbreak that we realize someone or something can't love us back.

I persevere with my longsword training because I see my progress. I am motivated by seeing how far I've come since day one. I'm curious about how far I can still go. I don't feel stagnant, and that makes the perseverance mindset possible.

Otherwise, it's just a routine. Not perseverance.

Routines can even be reactions to chaos, not necessarily a repetitive set of actions in the same environment. To me, perseverance is more about choosing to continue rather than continuing via autopilot. Autopilot can get me pretty far. But it doesn't make sense when the fight is stacked against me. Then perseverance shifts, becoming defensive. It becomes about taking care of myself.

Longsword is teaching me the difference between routines and perseverance. Routines mean going to class every week. Perseverance is choosing to fight after class because, to me, that's a fight worth having. Not every fight is worthy of my presence.

This week, that fight was definitely worthy. Part of me still can't believe that I successfully delivered the Bee Sting. The rest of me knows that I absolutely did.