🪨 PERSEVERANCE
“Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other.” – Walter Elliot
Perseverance is the quiet decision to keep going—through setbacks, slips, spirals, and slow seasons. For ADHDers, whose lives are often filled with restarts and reroutes, perseverance is more than willpower. It’s resilience in motion. It’s the strength to begin again… again.
In the ADHD terrain, progress is rarely linear. Some days we’re flying; others, we can’t even find the trailhead. Living this value means not measuring your worth by momentum. It’s about remembering that just returning to the path—even after detours or delays—is a victory in itself.
Perseverance doesn’t mean pushing through pain without care. It means holding on to what matters, even when motivation wavers or obstacles grow tall. It’s about pacing yourself, building scaffolds of support, and trusting that one small step—taken again and again—can carry you farther than any burst of brilliance.
This value turns ADHD’s fits-and-starts into something honorable: a journey of persistence. A rhythm of fall, rise, learn, and continue.
🧭 The HOPE Trail Map
- Helps or Harms: Am I continuing out of alignment or because something still feels true?
- Own My Values: I want to be someone who keeps moving toward meaning, even when the way is hard.
- People and Pursuits: Who believes in my ability to keep going? What long-view goals or values help me recommit when I falter?
- Enact and Evaluate: Today, I’ll return to something I left undone—not to perfect it, but to honour the part of me that still cares.
⚠️ Trail Challenges
- Repeated setbacks can erode self-trust and spark shame.
- ADHDers may struggle to sustain interest or energy over time.
- Overwhelm or perfectionism may block re-entry after a lapse.
🪧 Trail Markers: Small Steps Toward Perseverance
- Reopen a project you abandoned—just explore, no pressure.
- Create a visual reminder of past moments you kept going.
- Use the mantra: “Begin again. That’s still progress.”
🔥 Campfire Questions for Reflection
- What’s something I’ve kept returning to, even when it was hard?
- How do I honour persistence in myself—even when no one sees it?
- What helps me restart without shame when I’ve veered off track?
Perseverance is not about never stopping. It’s about choosing, again and again, to move in the direction of what matters.
