Dr Emily Musgrove

And actually is this a moment really for me to choose something that's worthwhile for me?

But letting go of a dream is incredibly difficult.

And I think in exploring that,

you know, yes, we really need to hold that so gently and I think we need to give it space to grave that kind of loss there of letting this go.

But in doing this work, what feels really pertinent is that whilst that goal might not have worked out, maybe that career trajectory didn't work out, but what were the values that were underlying that pursuit?

And how can I meet these in another way?

And so let's just say you have a creative pursuit and you've been going at it for years and years and there's like this niggling kind of story, thought in the back of the mind that I'm like, this is actually not going to happen for me.

When we turn towards that and recognise this is not going to happen for me in this way, yes, here is grief.

But how else can I show up to the values that were part of this pursuit?

So if it's creativity, for example, there are numerous pathways in which I can still engage in this.

If it's maybe it's in being an athlete, for example,

How do I pursue the values that sit underneath this in another way?

The values are never gone.

We can just reorient ourselves in a different direction.

Yeah.

So in the research, it suggests actually that resilience is part of perseverance, but grit has to involve the passion.

So without the passion, it's not grit, it's just perseverance and perhaps resilience to keep going, like your capacity to keep enduring.

But what kind of creates excellence or what moves us in the direction of being the greatest that we can be is the absolute crucial part of passion.

So we can hold and cultivate resilience to get through life, absolutely, and to get through life in a way that feels meaningful and full of vitality and joyfulness, for example.

But in terms of pursuing something for over a long period of time, we absolutely need the passion part.