When the going gets tough, the tough gets going used to be one of my most favourite quotes. I grew up on it, citing it many times to friends who were going through a lean period and using it on myself, whenever things seemed off. I understood it as- when things are not in your favour, only the people who are strong and capable have the power to face the adversity.
Last month, the famous physicist, Stephen Hawking passed away. Blaming my non-engineering background, I started brushing up on my lack of knowledge about this super intelligent man. While glancing through his achievements and famous quotes, I stumbled upon this one quote, which got me very reflective. He had said, ‘However difficult it may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up.”
I believe in the power of words. The words that you feed your brain determine your attitude and outlook towards life. And these were one of those words, which have the power to change lives!
It doesn’t matter if you are a strong or a tough person, what matters is that you don’t give up. You keep walking, keep moving, one step at a time.
Notice the subtle, yet life-altering difference in the two statements:
When the going gets tough, the tough gets going
v/s
However difficult it may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up
Irrespective of your self-reflection about yourself, whether you consider yourself a weak or a tough person, a happy or a sad person, a thinker or a doer, a leader or a follower- you need to just keep moving on and not give up. When everything seems dark and you feel helpless and want to give up, you don’t. You keep opening the doors, you keep trying because one thing leads to the other, multiple wrong doors take you to the right door (or even window!)
See this to understand it a little better:
A) Your company shut its operations, you don’t have a job. Its been months of endless cold calling and resume floating and still no luck. You join a friend’s catering company because you can’t, and you shouldn’t give up, after all there’s a family to support. It’s not a desired job, you don’t really like doing it and would prefer to join back your core area of work in a corporate. After a couple of months, as luck would have it, you get an interview call and guess what, you convert it because they liked your entrepreneurial spirit of risk taking by picking up a role in your friend’s catering business!
B) You shift jobs, and this new job isn’t as exciting or simulating as the previous one. But it works out well since its closer to home, gives you flexibility and pays you well. You don’t want to give up on the mental simulation your brain needs, and you start writing blogs in your free time. They just start as a hobby, a way to primarily kill time. But in a matter of a few months, the blog takes up good shape that when you decide to resign from that boring job, you aren’t worried whether you would have a steady money flow for the next few months, at least your creative mind is getting its due by writing!
C) Your relationship with your spouse isn’t all that great. Its getting worse with each day as there is lack of communication and mis-trust. You both seem to know the problems, and have the intent of resolving them, but whenever you sit to discuss them, you end up fighting. It seems that you are standing at the end of the tunnel and there’s no light. But you keep opening doors. You plan dinner-dates, fine for a few days and then back to square one. You plan a vacation, have a good time, all fine for a few days and then back to square one. You do this, and you do that, but its always the same situation after a few days. Assuming, you want to be in that relationship, you keep trying, you keep opening doors, you keep exploring the common grounds where both of you enjoy each other’s company.
It’s the intent that matters. The urge to not give up, to keep trying, under any situation. Closer home, isn’t this what our beloved Lord Krishna said in Bhagvad Gita – Karm kar, phal ki chinta mat kar (do your deeds, without worrying about the results).
Title Photo by Artem Bali on Unsplash
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