Hit The Gritty
What Grit Is and Why Many Young Adults Don’t Have It
Most of my summers in college were spent at a summer camp in Texas, simultaneously the most fun and challenging summers of my life! Thinking back to my week of training in the summer of 2019, I was scared beyond belief. I had just gotten in a friend’s minivan and drove 16 hours across the country to a camp I had never been to before, surrounded by 500 other college students. One of the first things we did was spend two days in an auditorium going through the staff handbook. On one of those days, they taught us five “transferable skills'' that we would be taking home with us after the summer ended. There was one skill that we were told would be the hardest to grasp because our generation lacked it… grit.
I pridefully sat in that room, preparing to block out anything said from the stage as I often do when I hear an older person speaking about what the younger generation lacks. But something told me I needed to hear what was about to be said, so I sat up and tried my best to focus. What I learned that day has been something I have thought about often for the last 3 years.
Let’s start with the obvious: What is grit?
Merriam Webster defines grit as “firmness of mind or spirit: unyielding courage in the face of hardship or danger.” In common words, it’s doing what you don’t want to do to get the outcome you want. If we’re being honest, I don’t think many young adults, myself included, exercise grit daily. There is an attitude of flakiness that has plagued our generation. When things get tough, we shut down. It’s so much easier to just not do the hard thing than to try and fail. Our pride gets in the way, and we decide that avoidance is better than disappointment.
Instant gratification is the biggest threat to a gritty life.
We expect positive results as soon as we do one hard thing and get discouraged when we don’t see progress. We don’t want to look weak in front of our peers. Desires such as performing the best at work, having a great social life, and making our parents proud can cause us to play it safe. We think that failure is embarrassing and can never be recovered from.
This is the tone that has been set for our young adult life, but just like in every other aspect of our lives, those who know Christ don’t have to live that way. Though you won’t find the word “grit” in the Bible, I believe that Paul describes it perfectly in 2 Corinthians:
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 9-10
When we reject the hardships that could come our way, we are blocking the opportunity to receive grace from our Father—the same grace that renews us so we can look more and more like Christ each day. The sanctification process does not stop while we are still on earth, which also means the hard things will not stop. This is promised to us in scripture: “...In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
So if Christ has overcome the world, we have no reason to shy away from the difficult things life presents us. The Bible even goes as far as to say that we can be grateful when we go through tough things, for it produces incredibly valuable fruit in our lives: “...We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” Romans 5:3-4
A different way of life.
As Christians, we are called to live differently than the rest of culture, so what would happen if we were intentional about using this season of young adulthood to shape our character for the rest of our lives? I believe that by actively practicing grit and perseverance, we amplify our opportunity to not only be refined to look more like Christ, but also show His character to a world that does not believe in Him but desperately needs Him.
Self-discipline is a hard skill to master, but the good thing is that we don’t have to do it alone. Though it is called self-discipline, it is a great opportunity to bring others into your life. Ask your friends to hold you accountable for doing those things that you don’t want to do. It is much harder to let others down than to let yourself down. This can practically build your self-discipline muscle, which will change the way you live your life.
Even though practicing this will be difficult and tiring, we don’t have to do it on our own strength. We can be confident that the Lord will equip us to face trials, and that He will give us joy to get us through.
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2–4
Amber Mulhall
Media Producer