There’s a saying that says it’s about journey, not the destination. I believe this saying is all about endurance. To endure the path to victory is in itself a victory. David Blaine talks about his journey to holding his breath for 17 minutes while underwater and his story shows that it’s not just about achieving a goal but knowing how to endure the many small failures that come with it.
Endurance is a necessity to get through life. Whether it’s to make it to the end of high school or college, or enduring being unemployed, it’s a skill that is required over and over again throughout our lifetimes. Endurance, to me, is about mental strength. Whatever life throws our way will require a response. Endurance is a response. A person will endure the challenge and get through it or they will back away and give up.
Giving up or to stop caring might be considered easier than enduring, but every path in life will eventually have a bump in it and to continue moving forward endurance is required. David Blaine talked about his failures in his TED talk. He talked about failing to hold his breath past 6 minutes on national television and how he trying to find different ways to get around actually having to hold his breath.
David Blaine tried to do the stunt the “easy” way. He tried to take the challenge and the work out of it but after hitting several dead-ends, he finally accepted that he would have to actually do the work and practice holding his breath. This began a whole new set of challenges for him to endure through. He practiced and utilized different tools to help him and he eventually did it. He endured through hard work and pain and suffering to achieve his goal. David Blaine did one of the hardest things to do and that is enduring through hardship and challenges.
The lesson to be learned here is that even though it’s hard, enduring though challenges will make the victory even sweeter. I believe the true measure of a person is how they react to a hard situation. Some will give up and run away, but the ones that fight through to the end and never give up, are the strongest people.