Just Keep Swimming

There is a Japanese proverb I read I reckon is pretty good.   “Fall seven times, stand up eight.”
The reason I like that is because to me it encapsulates what I hold to.  It reminds me of something else I heard and that is that there is no such thing as a mistake unless it is an act of mine unlearned from.  Not learning from something is a domain I do not want to stay in.
From my experience even when I know something is right for me life is not all rar, rar.  I agree with Newt Gingrich, “perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.”
Fortunately that is not to say there is no end in sight.  I have always liked when on a long road trip seeing the sign that said my destination was say 100 kilometres and then 50  and then I was there.  300 kilometres out the destination would seem a long way out.
The thing for me is it was a long way out, but persistence meant arrival.  I could have given up any time.  I could have decided a closer place would do.  But the reason I chose a particular destination was because of what it contained.  To give up is to forfeit my goal.  I substitute sooner happiness for the happiness of achieving and the expanded world it offers.
I could have stayed in Townsville.  It was secure.  I knew people.  I enjoyed life.  But Brisbane called.  It was full of the unknown.  I had a couple of contacts, but I left my security and entered a world of unknowns to grow.
It worked out.  I made mistakes and learned from them, and I enjoyed successes beyond my imagination.  I would have never known the joy of winning some unforeseen battles staying in a cocoon of security.
As a Charles Spurgeon once said, “by perseverance the snail reached the ark.”  As Dory encourages me in Finding Nemo “just keep swimming”.  By perseverance my destination is reached.