Ask HN: What inspires you to persevere through adversity? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What inspires you to persevere through adversity?

19 pointsjustanything22 comments

Saw this question posted 8 years ago, and loved some of the responses. Would love to see what people have to say about it now.

Copying from the post: things you avoid while persevering?

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I go through periods of genuinely thinking I’m capable of greatness, and periods of not caring at all about greatness and just wanting to be happy.

Speaking of adversity the last 6 months I’ve: lost a job, split from fiancé of 7 years, got fat, lost a dog, lost an apartment, got diagnosed with adhd, faced strong suicidal ideation, sever depression and nihilism.

But fast forward to current day - I’ve got back to the gym and doubled all my lifts and genuinely starting to get strong again, lost fat, made friends, started rock climbing and road cycling, progressed in my career and doing well at my new job, planned greater international travels.

I’ve realised I’m unnaturally resilient and I can basically push through anything life throws at me. Even in my darkest days I still dragged my ass to the gym and hit personal bests.

I do not know where this resilience comes from. I’ve realised over the years as a 30 y/o male no one is going to help you get to where you want to be, no one is going to have much empathy for you no matter how shit your life is, and that you control your own destiny and can only play the cards you’ve been dealt, but you alone can push yourself to greatness (whatever that may be for you)

"no one is coming to save you."

Statistics.

I have been in situations where internally my mind was screaming that this is it and there is no escaping. I felt like giving up after a bad break up, getting stuck with bad investment, getting so sick that needed to hospitalized, getting fired, getting robbed, and perhaps many more times.

But stats are almost always in favor of things working out and that helps me keep going.

For me, it is God and the Bible. I was not raised religious, and only slowly and gradually became first spiritual and then religious through watching others.

It has given me much peace and emotional stability, and many things I used to struggle with are now much more manageable for me.

Even in days of struggle, I experience this overwhelming feeling of support and peace, that someone loving and encouraging is with me, holding my hand.

It has also altered how I feel about my work. Where I used to feel unfulfilled and reluctant to get out of bed, I now get up early without an alarm, and grateful for the day.

I recently did a meta-study of the benefits of religious community and hope to publish it soon.

There are some things that I don't necessarily agree with, especially in the Old Testament, ones that can come across as unkind or unloving, and I just pass them over and focus on the good, and what helps me along.

It depends on what we're talking about. My number one motivator is providing for my family. But I also don't like change and I have strong internal motivation, so I naturally resist giving up on things almost to a fault. I tend to remove emotion from decisions and I hold myself to high standards, which helps me stay committed to my convictions even under peer pressure or without external validation. If I believe something is right, I'll stick with it to the end rather than do what I see as wrong; even if there's a big gap between what I think is right and what others think is right, I'll stick to my convictions in the face of 'adversity' (which manifests differently depending on what we're talking about, which is why I mentioned it at the start).

Work related: I have an addiction to food and shelter.

Relationship related: former marriage: I didn’t want to be seen as a failure even though I knew I was the only person in it for the right reason. Within four years I said “fuck it. I can start over”. Current marriage early on: I thought it was worth it and we got through it. I couldn’t imagine my life without my wife.

Financial from both my first divorce and overdoing it before the real estate crash: it’s only numbers. I never doubted I would eventually recover even though it took 8 years.

As in The Myth of Sisyphus, doing it just in spite.

One must imagine Sisyphus happy.

Every time he puts his hands on the stone, there is a smirk on his face.

Depends on the adversity. If it's slogging through the work week (which is my main adversity these days):

My toxic tendency to remain completely independent is about all that motivates me to work. I don't have any real motivation anymore since I have built so many safety nets (financial or otherwise) for myself to handle that vast majority of professional failures.

Independent in what sense?

In terms of depending on anybody (I don't have an entrepreneurial bone in my body).

But how do you get yourself to do all the cognitively heavy work for your job, day in day out?

Well I suppose in my current position there isn't much that is cognitively heavy, it's just...a slog. In previous jobs I had a bit more financial motivation when I worked on difficult things, but I made a change last year to migrate to an easier workload.

Intrinsic motivation. For a career programming, coding should work like a stimulant to a degree. Some people also are motivated by fear/pain. Some by money or status. Most by a mix of traditional motivators.

In the end of the day - having no real choice.

You just move forward and survive no matter what. Because all the “simple” alternatives (black void, nothingness, or dark hell of addictions) are way more terrible and/or boring.

Reminding yourself that God most probably loves you and wants the best for you helps sometimes as well.

It's really silly... When I'm really struggling, I imagine the Sims green diamond thingy over my head. Then I imagine double clicking on whatever I'm doing and just telling myself to do it again.

The success rate on this for me is not something I can easily explain. Visualization is a hell of a drug, I guess.

I find joy in the process of surmounting difficult things. I think there's a lot of intrinsic satisfaction in knowing no one can stop you.

I grew up poor and am now doing OK. I don't want to go back there.

I also have a wife and family to take care of.

As Joe Dirt says "You've just got to keep on keeping on"

Millions of years of evolution!

Jesus

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