*Two Minute Read (Para leer en español, haga clic aquí)

Endurance – the power to withstand pain or hardships; the ability or strength to continue despite fatigue, stress, or other adverse conditions.

When I think about most of the challenges we are facing as a collective right now, they all require some sort of endurance. Both the Black Lives Matter movement and the COVID pandemic are far from over. Life, if we are lucky, is far from over. And, I believe if we are doing it correctly, includes various challenges on a regular basis too.

I’ve watched mainstream news outlets and my social media feed slowly go back to resembling some sort of whatever I would’ve called normal before George Floyd’s death and the surge of protests on racial injustice. I’ve watched some people become or continue to be somewhat cavalier about wearing masks and social distancing, protesting living in ways that protect both their own and their family, friend’s, and neighbor’s safety. We need endurance to continue fighting and working towards a collective that is equitable and full of love and safety for all of us.

At my workout this morning, I was challenged to a 12-minute run with the goal of simply seeing how far I could travel. The challenge was not to reach the highest speed or climb a steep hill. This was purely a challenge of endurance.

The challenge was to not quit.

I could slow down or speed up as my body allowed, but I could not stop. As I ran, I thought so much about being consistent and steady.  Identifying my limits and listening to my body when I knew it needed to back off a bit or when it was able to speed up.

And I thought about how the concept of endurance is also true for our collective experience as a community right now. Beating the COVID pandemic requires endurance. Creating true change to systemic racism in the United States requires endurance. Finding a work/life balance and a balance between our physical, mental, and emotional health requires endurance.

As the definition states, endurance is the power to withstand pain or hardships; the ability or strength to continue despite fatigue, stress, or other adverse conditions. The challenge for so many things is a long one and will require us to keep going.  Much like my run, we can slow down and adjust as needed, but we must not stop.

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 Stevie Cromer is the Cultural and Enrichment Manager for LUNA Language Services. Stevie regularly provides engaging content to LUNA’s team to encourage a culture of care within our own LUNA family. For more suggestions and resources about how you might build a culture of care throughout your organization, please reach out to Stevie at stevie@LUNA360.com.