Hardiness

In the last post I wrote about the two elements of trust – competence and character. These two are incredibly important things to look for in anyone we are in a relationship with or work with. If I could only have one other quality in the people that I work with, serve with, and especially navigate life with, it would be HARDINESS.

Hardiness is that ability to withstand difficult or adverse conditions. It is a quality that is almost expressed in words like “resilience” or “toughness,” but not fully.

Someone with hardiness will bring their competence and character to the world day in and day out no matter what, while someone with perhaps a greater portion of character and competence will get personally and emotionally scuttled at the setbacks, disappointments, or even inconveniences of life.

I have seen two incredible women lose everything they owned in apartment fires, cry after the shock wore off, and then get on with life and looking after those who are counting on them, while other people all but fall apart over the regular inconveniences of life. Hardiness.

During this last recession I saw less competent people find jobs long after their more qualified peers had succumbed to the weight of disappointment and given up the search. Hardiness.

I have worked with people who could bring incredible competence and character to the table as long as the situation and environment was ideal, but as soon as there was a bump in the road the competence and character they were able to muster greatly diminished. Hardiness.

We all have our breaking points. There is a level of adversity for all of us when our character begins to weaken, our competency begins to fall apart, and our attitude turns sour, but what a wonder it is to see people go through incredible challenges and remain strong and stay true to who they are.

In the words of western author Louis L’Amour, these are the type of people to “ride the river with.”