Overcoming Obstacles With Tenacity

The first time I faced the notion of difficulty was in my final year of high school during calculus.

Prior to this, I had obtained achievement with minimal effort. I had been in the most advanced classes and I had gotten the easiest A’s but something about calculus AP threw me off. I didn’t understand why, but I didn’t waste time to entertain the question either. I just observed the ease to which my friends achieved high 90’s in the class and it stirred something inside of me. Was I jealous? Perhaps. Yet my competitiveness didn’t hinder me, but instead, it ignited my productivity. My plan of action was simple, I would go to my local library everyday after school and on weekends, drilling questions. I did this for hours, doing endless practice questions and noting every mistake I made and learning from it. I shut off my phone and sat in the lonesome cubicles of my suburban library, until calculus became second nature and engrained in my head.

This hustling tactic has saved me many times since high school. At university, I’ve gone through cycles of mindless success and also times where I’ve had to fight for it. The latter phases are rare as one becomes accustom to the nature of difficulty. But once in awhile, a particular obstacle comes along challenging your comfortable status quo and sparking the question, how do you overcome it?

The answer is simple.  Allow the Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius to bestow you with some classic stoic principles:

Our actions may be impeded. But there can be no impeding our intentions or dispositions. Because we can accommodate and adapt. Our mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting. The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.
-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (Book 5 #20)

What makes this quote so powerful? Let’s begin by dissecting the first part:

Our actions may be impeded. But there can be no impeding our intentions or dispositions.

To impede means to obstruct, to slow progress and movement. Thus our actions are not immune from this phenomenon. Referring back to my calculus example, I was not immune from an obstacle in that class.  My initial action, the minimal studying I had relied on was bound to fail me at some point because it was not a foolproof method in fighting obstacles. It was a lethargic act bound to its impeded fate. However, my redeeming quality was my intent to improve. There was no impeding or obstructing of my intention to obtain a better grade led by my disposition and knack of hustling.

Because we can accommodate and adapt. Our mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting.

People often scoff stoicism as being too somber but I find the second part of the quote rectifies that. The tone here is a type of optimistic realism. There is no false sense of hope, but one based on the undeniable qualities we possess as humans –  adaptability. In the face of obstacles, we can choose how we respond. We have the ability to assess the difficulty and calculate a plan of attack. My high school self, without studying stoicism, demonstrated these very ideals. I adapted my studying habits in response to the obstacle the class posed for me. I redefined the challenge for my own acting, I broke it down into the simplicity of continuous drilling and learning from mistakes and stuck with it.

The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.

When we face obstacles, we often think of ways to maneuver around them. We think of alternative paths we can take or shortcuts that will lessen the pain. This strategy on an educational level can be summed up as “study smarter” which has some merits. Of course, being efficient is an admirable trait but not a universally applicable one. In the calculus example, I couldn’t cheat my way to a better grade or rely on minimal studying. I had to put in the hours for the results I wanted. When I go running and I’ve hit the tiresome wall during a long run, of course it seems tempting to take a shortcut route back home. By doing so, I would be hindering my training. The only way for me to improve my endurance is to keep going, to move forward on the path not off it.

When it comes to these types of fleeting challenges that paralyze us, there are no shortcuts or alternatives. You face these obstacles the classic way, head on unswerving with tenacity.

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Overcoming Adversity and Gaining Insight and Resilience

Beauty exists in things falling apart. Embrace adversity with an open heart to allow it to mold you into who you were meant to be.