Perseverance

I began repainting the deck railing last summer. I fell and separated my shoulder and had to delay finishing. So here we are, getting near the end of this summer and I'm just now painting the vertical parts of the railing. 

There are 13 sections to the railing, and I've mostly completed 3. When I began yesterday, I was grumbling so much to myself. Things kept going wrong. But I kept telling myself to be grateful I had work to do, and I was capable of doing such work. I grumbled on, all while working at the painting job before me. It was a day of me complaining in my head while reprimanding myself. It feels like this is an enormous task.

This morning, I wasn't looking forward to painting, but I no longer felt the need to grumble to myself. I don't enjoy this work, but I was able to do what I needed to anyway.

I think that's what perseverance is all about. Spending a vacation being entertained and fed wouldn't take any perseverance. The days would pass quickly, and I'd be feeling pretty pleasant about my vacation. Perseverance is when you continue on with a lengthy and often times burdensome task. You may not enjoy it very much, but you continue on nonetheless.

Saving for a big financial goal takes a lot of perseverance. My husband and I were extremely frugal for the first 8 years of our marriage. It was tough at times. We didn't take vacations, not even to camp. We paid for necessities and put the rest of our income into savings. It took 8 long years to save enough for a sizable down payment on our house -- 8 years of being extraordinarily frugal. But we persevered.

My progress on the deck rail painting job feels now much like it felt when we'd been saving for about 2 years of the 8. At that time, it was hard to see our progress. It mostly felt like we were working hard for little gain. As I look at all of the railing sections left to paint, it feels like I've made very little progress so far. But I know that in just another couple of days, the progress will be so much more evident. I remember a specific day during year 6 of our savings for a house journey. My husband and I were totaling our various savings and investments. We realized that we had saved a very big chunk of our goal amount. We could see on paper that our hard work was paying off. Buying a house was no longer just a hope, but something that would most certainly happen. That's the feeling I expect to have someday early next week. I will have completed enough of the railing to see that my hard work is paying off and it will most certainly be finished this summer.

In the meantime, I just need to persevere. I'll check back with you on the finished railing in a week or so.

Have a great weekend, friends!