Persistance!

Two years ago I purchased an unfinished piece of artwork from an artist I admire.  I tried to find the artist to have him finish the piece, but could not reach him.  I went through friends of the artist, I went through people who worked with him, but to no avail.  I either had his wrong e-mail or his wrong address, but I was unable to reach him.  So... I gave up.  I figured I would never be able to have him finish the piece that I owned and I became disillusioned about the whole thing.  I even considered parting with the unfinished artwork that I was so excited about when I first received it.  

Then, last week I got a lead to where I could reach the artist.  And guess what?  I actually was able to contact him and he seemed willing to finish the artwork.  I became excited about the art again and looked forward to seeing what he was going to do with it when it was finished!  Just a couple of weeks earlier I was ready to let go of the art and give it up.  Now I'm once again enthused about the possibilities of having it completed.

I think in a lot of ways, this example shows the progression of our efforts in life.  We get enthusiastic for a while, then when we don't get the results we want as quickly as we'd like, we tend to give up and become resigned that we're not going to get what we want.  But then with a little encouragement our motivation can become revived and we can once again think about the possibilities of getting what we want. 

Wouldn't it be great if we could keep our enthusiasm even in the face of disappointments?  To be able to believe that if we just try a little harder we can eventually get where we want to go... accomplish what we want to accomplish... and have our lives work the way we want them to work?

While it's not always easy to stay enthusiastic and motivated when we're not seeing results... every little step we make, no matter how inconsequential it may seem, leads us toward our ultimate goals.  And even when it looks like we're never going to reach that goal, if we find a way to stay motivated to continue working toward it, we are much more likely to ultimately achieve them!