“Every calamity is to be overcome by endurance.”
-Virgil
From a practical perspective, we can get through any struggle. From an emotional perspective, getting through struggles without cracking is hard. Humans are made from pretty strong material that can weather a lot. However, our society has grown to favor instant gratification and instant relief from suffering. We have lost our desire to endure as a result.
Grief requires intense endurance to survive. Because there is no definitive end point to it, grievers have to be prepared to pace themselves for a marathon of emotions, psychological, and sometimes physical challenges. Grief isn’t quick, it can’t be skipped, and it is far from easy.
The calamity of loss (whether of a person or of life as you know it) and the process of adjusting to all the changes can take years. There is no way to speed through it or skip it, though many try. Grief has to be endured, it has to be gone through; there is no way around it.
Endurances requires patience, trust, and surrender. By accepting those three things into your way of being, you can endure the longest trial of your life. Although there is no defined end to grief know that, although it won’t be easy, you can make it through what may be the most harrowing experience of your life.
What can you do to cultivate your endurance this week? How can you increase patience and trust, and find a way to surrender to something outside of yourself?
A.N.Carroll 