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Commitment Overcomes Endurance
Four ways to lift your level of commitment in a relationship.
The difference between commitment and endurance is that endurance rages through the dark moments where as commitment basks in the glory of the hope-filled light of day. — KF
In Japan there is an expression, to ‘GAMAN’ meaning to endure. When the military surrender was expressed to the public over the radio, ( the first time most Japanese had heard their Emperor’s voice) he requested that they ‘gaman’ to endure the unendurable. Today it is a phrase bandied around with almost blithe disregard for its meaning or possible intensity.
One can ‘gaman’ over numerous activities, virtually any effort can be twisted into a moment in which to ‘gaman.’ To name but a few; cleaning the stove, jogging around the block, carrying the groceries, withstanding the sting of a wasp, or amazingly… maintaining a marriage or love.
The last one was a paper cut on the surface of my heart. After forty years of partnership would my lover be merely enduring me? (Even though I know I can be insufferable at times.) Is love just a matter of endurance? Is choosing to spend one’s life (we generally are cognizant of only having one life,) with another a matter of gritting one’s teeth and submitting to the negative grind associated with endurance?