See it Through

See It Through

John Paul Derryberry

You know what is super not fun; mile 23 of a marathon. Also, not fun at all is mile 9 on a 12-mile hike day. We all know the middle of everyone's professional projects when the end isn't appearing in sight, a giant suck fest. Yet, mile 26 with only .2 left in a marathon is a blast of good times, and so is the mile 11 marker on the 12-mile trek. And, planning the ribbon-cutting ceremony brings a smile to everyone's face.

Even when we run a race and suck it up at the end, we talk about- well, I finished. Or, I didn't have it today, but I found a way not to give up. Even in the failure of a large project, we find a way to gather and garner meaning from the process. Oh man, I learned a ton of what not to do when I was handed my first leadership position of running a program. The end of that journey saw me realize I needed graduate school to better grow into the leader I wanted to be. It means something to see it through to the end. It allows for what we all need in life, growth opportunities.

Again, this isn't some stay in broken relationships, bad faith groups, or broken political parties for the sake of staying in them. Sometimes seeing things through means leaving certain people behind. It is a reminder that staying the course to its rightful conclusion gives us something we all need in life. Clarity of emotions, thoughts, goals, and what we should do next. Cheating that process with a shortcut leads us to a different path but the same conclusion. Usually, a conclusion is clouded with guilt, shame, and doubt boiling over in our everyday life. And we all know how those things tear us apart from the inside out.

Yet, to see it through removes those nasty things. Thoughts of would I be different if I had finished don't occur. You just get to plan and scheme what you would do differently to be more successful next time. Or, as JRR Tolkien put it.
"This is a story of how a Baggins had an adventure and found himself doing and saying things altogether unexpected."

Except you can substitute for Baggins and insert your name. Because the best versions of ourselves are when we see a journey through and find ourselves doing things we never expected to accomplish.