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!
The railing is tedious work with all of the sides of the numerous posts to paint. I would feel annoyed, too. I have felt the same way about exercise. I have been doing serious exercise for the last 6 months, and it wasn't until recently that I could notice much of a difference. But I kept going because it was good for me. However, I've noticed that I really do have more stamina and strength now. I still have a way to go before I get where I want, but perseverance has paid off. :)
ReplyDeleteThis is a timely post for me. I've had a couple of things happen recently that are requiring perseverance (and patience). I'll share one--early in the summer (June), the top of our septic tank collapsed into itself. We were still able to use it, fortunately, but we had to jump through a lot of hoops to get it replaced (I'll spare you the details). We knew it would make a mess of our back yard, but it wasn't clear how much of a mess, until the new tanks (the health department requires 2 tanks ..... sigh ..... ) were installed. It's very sandy where we live and our back yard has looked like a beach, but not in a good way. We could have paid for the septic company to deliver topsoil, but it was going to cost an additional $1500. My husband had a load of dirt delivered yesterday (for a lot less!) and it was dumped on our driveway, so he and I (he did the hard stuff) took it to the back yard and spread it out. We're still not done, and boy, was I feeling overwhelmed when I came home and saw the dirt pile. We hit inevitable snags along the way (mainly, the tire on our wheelbarrow went flat and the valve stem broke--the third person I contacted had a working wheelbarrow and graciously loaned it to us), but we are about 3/4 of the way done with spreading the topsoil. It should get finished tonight, and then comes the planting and nurturing of the grass. This definitely doesn't compare to your 10 year savings plan, Lili, but I can certainly relate to your feelings right now. I think your railings will look wonderful and am hoping to see the finished product.
ReplyDelete