Writing and Perseverance - End of the Semester

Dear Real Academics,

I am not a marathon runner, but I know enough about endurance running to compare this time of the academic year to the near end of a race: seeing the finish line in the distance but being near exhaustion. 

I've heard endurance athletes explain how 80% of finishing a race is mental/psychological. 

This is how and why athletes in their middle age and beyond can and do often beat athletes in their twenties. 

In other words, age is an advantage in the mental/psychological arena simply because of maturity and experience, and this psychological advantage trumps age and even natural physiology.

As I think about myself as a writer, I can agree how age has certainly helped me psychologically endure more than I used to be able to endure. 

I am able to handle rejection much better than before and any ego about my perfectionist tendencies that I can never quite achieve is out the window. 

With that said, these facts do not mean perseverance gets any easier.

What does this mean for you, dear Real Academic?

Whether your are 20 or 40 or 60 or 80, perseverance  is something we all benefit from being encouraged to do. 

Perhaps because perseverance is psychological, encouragement can fuel the ability to keep going and not give up. 

Even when you are tired, even when you feel as though you've failed, even when you feel defeated, even when you feel apathetic: 

Don't give up. Get back up and keep going. 

The race is not necessarily won by the swift but by those who preserver to the end. The finish line is near.

Until next time, keep on writing!

Maggie

www.therealacademics.com

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