The Privilege of Pressure

                When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

-Popular English Proverb

This proverb has been popular for many years and has been attributed to a number of famous people including President John F. Kennedy.  Regardless of its origins, the meaning is profound and can teach us an interesting and uplifting lesson.

The first interesting point is how the saying is interpreted.  The simplest explanation is that when difficult things happen, tough people are able to move on to better situations.  They can adapt and change.  This is a valuable skill, but I believe that there is another interpretation that can provide us with some valuable insight.

The other interpretation is much more insightful.  It is that when difficult circumstances happen, tough people persevere and do not let those obstacles stop them from achieving what they set out to do.  Rather than leave, they get stronger or better and refuse to be put off by adverse conditions. They “get going” with action to deal with the issues they are facing.

There is a wonderful lesson here if we have been placed in a challenging situation.  Our automatic response is to often be upset with the person or people that have put us in the situation.  But there is another positive way to interpret it.  If someone hired you, promoted you or asked you to do something, they probably believed you could do it.  It is very unlikely that they set you up to fail.  They felt that you could handle the situation; the pressure is a privilege that shows that someone believed in you.

When you look at difficulties and pressure from that standpoint, it takes on a completely different identity.  Rather than being things to avoid, based on the opinion of people who know, you can handle and move past them.  The fact that someone believes in you enough to place you in these situations, should make you believe in yourself. 

The pressure becomes a privilege that you have been given and you get to live up to the faith that people have in you.