There are many aspects to heroic perseverance, but the size of the goal isn’t a primary one. (What a relief!) Despite all the parallels to heroic quests and epic adventures, let’s not get trapped into thinking that’s all heroic perseverance means.

We don’t have to undertake a huge task to employ heroic perseverance. In fact, we grow in our practice most often when we apply it to everyday things.

There are three aspects of heroic perseverance that can guide us, no matter the size of the goal. Lama Surya Das says, “What makes an effort heroic is that it is insistent, consistent and persistent.”

A goal is insistent when you commit to doing it. You become loyal and dedicated to seeing it through. You decide that it’s important, and that you will pursue it.

Your effort becomes consistent when you stay focused on the small steps and tasks that will get you to your goal. You don’t let laziness or distraction or other commitments knock you off the path.

And lastly, you are persistent when you don’t give up when trouble or difficulty arises. You don’t release your insistent commitment or your consistent effort just because the road gets bumpy. You stay the course and keep going.

I spend a lot of time staring at the ceiling these days at physical therapy, doing leg lifts or getting my knee iced. So today, I pondered the way I see these characteristics showing up for me in my rehab.

Insistence was simple enough. I stayed up late last night and, like many of you I imagine, feel drained after many days of Christmas festivities. I didn’t really want to go to PT at 9am, but I got up and honored the commitment.

Second was consistency. I have been doing many of the same exercises every day twice a day for fifty-six days. It’s not thrilling, but I have committed to doing my rehab every day, so I have to breathe deep and just accept that it will be boring. I feel slightly better reimagining “boring” as “heroic.”

Persistence was last, and for me today, most important. After my leg was hard as a rock and swollen from all the standing and walking and cooking over the last five days, I didn’t get to add any new exercises today. In fact, I had to go easy on my knee and rest. That’s frustrating, because it feels like back-tracking on a path that already feels snail-like in pace. But my goal is to heal fully, not go so fast I can’t heal well. So I breathed out my frustration and let it go. I’ll ice it today and be ready to add more on Friday.

There is nothing remotely glamorous or even very interesting about these physical therapy insights. (I feel badly for boring you with them!) But that’s the point. Heroic perseverance isn’t meant to be Hollywood-level interesting. It’s meant to be effective. And we lose sight of that purpose if we don’t recognize it at work in the slow, small stuff.

(Interlude: I offer a deep bow to those of you parenting small people right now. It can feel like a lot of unglamorous tasks and routine monotony. And also, it is such holy work. Hang in there, heroes! You wouldn’t believe what my teenagers can do all on their own now!)

Remember the words of Mother Teresa, who said, “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”  In some seasons of our lives we may be asked to do something big, but most of the time we can simply focus on being present to our daily lives, as they are.  Even our most basic daily commitments and callings can be meaningful and holy if we do them with awareness, dedication, and loving care.

If you’re setting your goals for 2019, be brave to think big. But be brave enough also to think small, and remember how heroic perseverance can support even your most menial tasks.

This post is part of the Paramita Project. You can read all my posts on practicing heroic perseverance here.