[Hankyung Essay] Basic stamina of goals and dreams, strength to endure
[Hankyung Essay] Basic stamina of goals and dreams, strength to endure
There is an idiom called ‘Wugongyishan (愚公移山)’. It means ‘a foolish old man moves a mountain,’ which means that with persistence and patience, any difficult task can be achieved. So how do we develop persistence and patience?
Many parents try to prevent their children from experiencing difficulties under any circumstances. It seems rare for children raised with such overprotection to overcome various difficulties in life on their own and grow up well. Rather, it is easy for them to grow up as maladaptive loners who cannot take on new challenges, are easily frustrated by small things, and are angry at a society that does not go their way.
People face many difficulties and obstacles in their lives. As you overcome these things one by one, your inner self grows and you realize the truth and meaning of life. The basic physical strength that one must have in order to live well in an uncertain world is the ‘power to endure.’
It seems that the strength to endure is not something one is born with. I also remember being overprotected by my mother when I was young, so my patience was at an all-time low. I couldn’t stand my brother, who was two years older than me, playing pranks, and attacked him, leaving a scar on my brother’s cheek. Even now, I feel sorry when I see that trace.
When I was in college, my family’s circumstances became difficult, so I unintentionally became mature, and as I took on difficult tasks in the military, my ability to endure gradually became stronger. After quitting my first job at a large company and preparing to study abroad, when I worked as a restaurant manager for a year to help with housework, I slept on a sleeping bag on the floor with my employees. I believe that the various experiences I had while personally cooking breakfast for employees and cleaning bathrooms became a source of confidence that I could overcome whatever was faced in the future.
At the age of 30, I realized the truth that patience and perseverance are not something you are born with, but are developed through difficult tasks. I also regret that I could have grown much faster if I had learned it earlier. I would like to tell parents that the most basic way to raise children well is to teach them persistence and patience through the process of overcoming difficulties.
If you lack patience, you won’t be able to consistently strive for what you truly want. In order to achieve your goals and dreams, you need to develop the strength to endure. It is also patience that brings peace to the mind so that we can respond to the difficulties we face in life with courage, strength, and optimism. You need to develop patience in order to calmly solve problems without being swayed by emotions and without impatience.
To achieve great things in life, you must willingly accept difficult tasks and have the attitude of doing your best to perform them. We must be especially wary of the foolishness of choosing only easy tasks. This is because the joy of achievement increases in proportion to the persistence and patience one endures.
