Cruising through challenging times: Grit and Resilience

It is not often when you see or hear about people who even in times of struggle and pain continue to stay at it, are resilient enough to not only overcome the tough times but overcome them in a positive manner without complaining. Most of us want to have the best of things and want to get these in a very comfortable manner. When it comes to going that extra mile, getting out of your comfort zone, and stepping out of easy life, a lot of us can fall apart. Nothing comes easy, and also nothing comes for free.

One great example of grit and resilience is Novak Djokovic. There is so much one can learn from the way he is leading his life. He is not only a master class tennis player, but at the same time if one tries to understand the mindset and discipline that he follows on a daily basis, one may understand that he is living life in a very deep and spiritual manner. It is how he leads his daily life, the thinking, the lifestyle, and daily process/routine which is what get translated into his tough tennis matches when he is on the edge, in pain, not have much left in his body, but still somehow manages to overcome these scenarios. Challenging oneself on a daily basis to become better version of ourselves, picking up an activity which we know we do not enjoy or find easy, but still doing it and going beyond our mental and physical comfort zone are few things to think about.

One key aspect that can be taken up is importance of being mindful and present. If we are not mindful about the way we are doing things, we can miss out on important things. We can also unknowingly end up doing things that we are not supposed / not intend to be doing. Mental presence during each action is hard to implement, as this means to keep countering our mind consciously which tends to run in many different directions. Example of Djokovic is a proof of concept that if we continue to take up something that we initially find to be difficult and tough, we can go beyond it and then that activity becomes normal for us. One would be surprised how powerful our human body and will power can be. Humans have survived many tough times during thousands of years of our evolution, the bodies therefore have become and evolved in a way that it can take up challenges and can be pushed to new and greater limits that we certainly cannot think of.

A shift in thinking from wanting and wishing for big things while being in our comfort zones to actually focusing on our daily lives, processes/routines that we follow and push ourselves is important. All the time we get to hear, it is the journey to destination that ultimately counts. As easy and as nice this sounds, our eyes tend to go towards the end result that we are wishing for. In this process of thinking we sadly do not do justice to the potential and abilities that all our bodies have. The mind takes over, and we get consumed by the wishful thinking, thoughts of things that are not in our control, end up wasting time, go deep down into negative holes, and start to count on our “luck” without trying.

Getting up with gratefulness to be able to live this life, to be present here on Earth can help to put things in perspective. Next step is to push ourselves to become our own better version. We have come on this earth alone and we will also go alone, why carry baggage, carry those thoughts that at the end of the day would not even matter or would make a difference. Important is to take charge of all that we can so we can absorb each second that we have here. This is where grit and resilience, and example of Djokovic come in as these can help us to stay on track even during the tough times, which we often allow to take over our lives without realizing and accepting.

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