Why Bother With Resilience?

I definitely prefer starting and finishing certain tasks while avoiding others. Yet, those projects I dodge, still need completing. So far, those tasks I avoid, never magically get done without me rolling up my sleeves and actually doing them. Yet, I know why I tend to procrastinate when it comes to getting them done. I already know that there will be no guaranteed success and success motivates me. I like to see triumph at the end of a job. Knowing a project lacks tangible evidence then the job is hard for me to even begin.

Resiliency 

A few character qualities that come naturally for me are persistence, tenacity and physical strength. These are good attributes for physical labor. Helping someone pack up their house and move, weeding a garden, or painting a bedroom are easy for me. Not only do I possess the stamina to haul boxes, use a paint roller or pull noxious plants out of the ground, the work is satisfying. I can see what I’ve accomplished. Moving boxes are full, a room is now a different color and a row of strawberries is cleaned of weeds. The visual results of my labor are more than satisfying.  

Not only that, but I enjoy this type of work more than any other kind because it calls for independence. I don’t mind working alone. I know how to rely on myself to get a job completed and I know I’m reliable enough to get it done. 

On the other hand, the types of jobs I avoid are the ones that do not require me to use my natural attribute of physical endurance. These are the chores that do not give me immediate satisfaction. There is no guarantee of success when I do them and no visible or tangible results. I cannot rely solely on myself. Instead, they take cooperation from others. They also take an endless stream of energy and there is no finish line in sight. These types of tasks take more than just persistence and tenacity. They require resiliency or the ability to bounce back from defeat. 

Since becoming an author of a completed manuscript, my present chore is to locate a publisher, a job I tend to resist. This task requires me to adapt myself to a whole new territory called social media, and marketing. Writing the book was easy compared to convincing an editor that it is worth their time, effort and money to print it. Yet,  I can’t take their rejections as a personal assault on my writing. Instead, their refusals challenge me to keep a buoyant and cheerful attitude. I cannot deem myself an unsuccessful writer, rather, I am a writer whose book has not been published, yet. 

And so, I will continue to press the submit button to send off my query letters. I will  stick to discovering marketing plans that will work for me. I will wade into the stream of social media to gain an audience. In other words, I will allow my mind to adapt to the ways in which a writer works toward getting their book into print. I will meet my resistance to this task with resiliency. 

Why bother being resilient? It is worth being resilient, adapting to tasks that force us to be malleable. Bouncing back and trying again is better than saying, “I should have…”