tales of Suchita

So I’m back because once again my friend MT (she’s different from MP by the way) has asked me to shed my pearls of wisdom for her benefit. Today we talk about perseverance.

Recently, because I hate myself, I started on this 31 day challenge of self-love and 6 days into it, everything is going hunky dory when we’re suddenly told to come up with at least 10 things we love about ourselves. It’s not a stretch to say it took me the entire day to make that list. In my defense though, I love that list and I’m quite proud of it. But I’m prouder of point number 7 i.e. perseverance.

While making that list I realized that from someone who used to only procrastinate and put off things, who was the queen of hiding and self-delusion, I have become one who can persevere despite all odds. It came to me as quite a shock that I have done enough self work to reach here.

But you see, the thing about perseverance is it does not happen until you decide something is worth enough for you to go after. 

I love saying that motivation and inspiration are fluff words and all that anyone needs is discipline or a timetable but I really, really, really think that none of that matters if your goal is incorrect or so vast or so nebulous that the very thought of starting on that journey is so daunting, you procrastinate. In the case of MT, you procrastinate by buying fake flowers for your house as you set up your work table and buy expensive stationery (pencils! Pink glittery pencils and she has not used pencils since she was in law school).

Let me give you an example of a correct goal and an incorrect goal. This is something from one of my teachers. He was on a flight to Brazil and he was in the economy class, middle seat, between two hefty people. As soon as he would land in Brazil, he would barely have enough time to freshen up before he was required to take a full day class. As per norm, he started to moan his position, how sorry he felt that he didn’t have enough money to buy a decent seat, how the universe had put him in a hard spot – quite literally. While the litany of misfortune continued, his brain interrupted with a simple question, what do you really want? And his answer was quite immediate, I want to sleep so I can be fresh when I land and alert for my class.

A correct goal in the above example would be I want to sleep. An incorrect goal would be I want to make so much money I can travel business class all the time.

Let me give you another example from something I have struggled with since I was 21 – exercising consistently. The amount of times I have started and stopped and restarted this activity is bizarre. Until the pandemic that is.

While going through a Leslie Sansone video, I suddenly got my correct goal. Before then I had had one goal – to lose weight – a goal so vast, daunting, and ludicrous I had no hope of achieving it.

Now Leslie, in most of her videos, says, all you have to do is show up for your walks. Fitness happens naturally. It was like the sun had burst forth from the clouds of a miserable decade. What she said, it was such a simple task: show up. She didn’t even say exercise. Just…show up. And it has been 4 months in lockdown and I have managed to stay on my exercise regimen.

So MT, and anyone who is reading this, to be able to persevere, break down your goals, dreams, aspirations into actionable line items (to pick a Boss phrase). Rome was not built in a day. It was built the same, plain old way, putting bricks next to each other. 

And if I can persevere on a dream that has given me more heartache than any other dream I have had – getting my MS published – you can too.

In the words of my yoga instructor, yes you can.

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I recently released a collection of poems called ’23 Letters of Love’ on Amazon. If you’re on Kindle Unlimited, it’s free! You can buy your copy here.