Suffering Patiently, When to Stop Enduring

In recent months I’ve embarked on a life changing journey of wrapping up the work of running a full-time business and shifting into a path that creates more safety and stability for me at this time in my life. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been asking by others why I’m changing my path, and I can’t count if doing this scary thing is going to be worth it? If it would have been better to simply suffer patiently.

I got that phrase when I looked up the meaning to endure. The meaning of endure is simple: to suffer patiently.

And when I read that it kind of took my breath away, because there are times in our lives when the suffering has become too much, and it’s time we stop enduring.

That said, are there times in our life where enduring is necessary? Yes!

I think of enduring through my college physics course in order to graduate on time, or enduring through the cold baths I began doing for my mental and physical wellbeing. Sometimes we have to suffer in order to grow!

But have you ever found yourself suffering simply because you thought you had to? That there was no other options than to endure?

I’ve found myself there often in my life- especially in my career and even relationships. Like jobs where managers insist on having you close than reopen the store the next day- and not as a one off, but as a regular occurrence- or where managers get off on putting you down. These periods of enduring begin so slowly, you think “well that day sucked, but surely this won’t last forever”, but before you know it it’s become a reality you’re suffering very patiently though.

HOW TO STOP ENDURING

Often our bodies know before we do. There’s signals sometimes in certain sensation which is your sacred way of letting you know that you’re in a situation that’s causing you pain. So the first thing you can do is start arming yourself with information. What situations are causing you pain, which conversations are shutting you down, etc.. You may find that your heart starts racing as you pull into the parking lot at work, or that every time you interact with customers your heart is in your throat.

And while there’s certain things we endure in order to grow- if that growth isn’t coming and the suffering continues- it’s probably time to make a change!

And before you get too scared, try throwing out the black and white thoughts and start thinking of every other possibility that lies between staying or quitting. Often our answer is somewhere in the middle.

Refuse to suffer because that’s the way it’s always been done. Refuse to keep suffering out of fear of rejection or that there won’t be something better on the other side. Invite in the world of possibilities, arm yourself with knowledge, and change will soon follow.

If this subject resonates with you, and you could use more encouragement in this area- listen to me break all these thoughts down in our companion episode of the A Bit From Within Podcast on “Stop Suffering Patiently”. You can listen below or find us on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.