Did Dickinson get it wrong?
Maybe she should have written “The Indominable spirit is the thing with feathers that perches in all of us trying to find hope in this bleak world”. Does it take an undefeatable will to jostle the individual out of existential complacency. So as not to simply sleepwalk through life.
Victor Frankl, a Nazi concentration camp survivor said, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” He was not referring to the amount of torture one can withstand or whether to stay defiant till the end but rather how well you are able to deal with the horrors faced. Not by how long s/he persists but considering circumstances, how you overcome to the best of your abilities. This unconquerable spirit is within us all.
So when people have said to me on hundreds of occasions that they don’t know how I can live like this, that they could not do it; I tell them they would be surprised. This unflinching will to succeed in the face of obstacles is amazing.
Some people cultivate strength, determination, resilience, and mindfulness. These people overcome. Some people choose to believe in their inherent weakness, they remain weak.
Success coaches refer to will as grit: the inner resolve, courage and strength of character to persist through adversity. The indomitable will or spirit is that part of a person which makes them unique. It is that part of a person which provides hope, strength and courage to get up and face each day with a smile. It is perseverance on a long-term basis. A strong determination is fuelled by a powerful force encouraging you to endure in the face of setbacks.
How does one overcome to the best of their abilities?
Stephen Hawking was an extreme example of that dogged spirit that enables people to tackle the seeming impossible and never give up. Diagnosed with the slow-progressing form of motor neurone disease, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, at 21 years old, he was given only two years to live. Despite this he never renounced.
In fact, Hawking lived a fuller life than many people who are physically healthy.
When he was no longer able to speak, he used voice simulators, which he initially operated with one hand and eventually, when he could not even use one finger, learned to operate it with a muscle of his cheek. Even as his disease gradually paralyzed more and more of his body he maintained his mental energy by concentrating on what he could and would do and not on those things which he was unable to do. His unconquerable will persevered and overcame to the best of his ability withstanding possibly one of the worst diseases with his sanity still intact. He became an academic genius, a brilliant theoretical physicist and cosmologist contemplating the origin of the universe and enjoying heated discussions with other scientists. His mind is what kept him going right up to the end when he was all mind. A remarkable mind that gave him the indominable will to not only live but to flourish against his odds sharing wisdom and helping us to understand things like the Big Bang and black holes, knowledge that will remain with us for ever.
Other examples of an indominable will are evident everywhere.
Just look at the millions of people subjected to the Holocaust and survived.
None of these people had control over their outer experiences but all had one thing in common -an indominable spirit.
Is the indominable spirit without hope worthwhile?
I believe the indominable spirit chooses to respond to hardship not by abandoning hope, but by celebrating a belief in the human capacity to endure and care.
Hope can set us up for disappointment and defeat, a feeling of despondency and a loss of meaning in life. I’m very much a realist and I believe the only way to “triumph” over hope is to embrace it as what it is- an intrinsic, though terminal, aspect of life. Many people wilfully choose to turn their back on what’s best encountered head-on. Sometimes, the best way to move forward is to close the chapter on a hurtful time with confidence and maybe that means closing the door on hope too and just getting on with it.
I did not seek out psychological support to addresses the many challenges facing me after my accident or as I continued to grieve and come to terms with my considerable loss. My desire for perseverance emerged from deep within, the core of myself and it was matched with the same need for air to fill my lungs. An invincible will to succeed has led me far in my self’s journey. Why I refused to give up ‘my choices were simple; it was either giving up or moving on with what is still possible. I choose to rise in the face of challenges and desire improvement.
I refused to suffocate my magnificence by unrealistic societal norms on disabilities. You have to go all in! To fight for… well do it for you.
My fight isn’t over, I have to deal with the consequences of having a Spinal Cord Injury daily but thankfully I feel I have overcome a lot of battles.
This resilience or indominable will I learned was inside of me, I just needed to engage it. I was embodied by the adage, if at first you don’t succeed try, try again. Individuals with this feeling will take this to the next level. They recognize that there are multiple paths to a goal and don’t give up when one or more paths do not lead them there initially. They recognize that trial and error is essential. A flexible, forward-looking mindset was preferable to a rigidly fixed one centred around hope. Although putting your trust in hope can be extremely tempting, diligently applying yourself to what you most care about, moving forward in my case, can be a much more reliable way to prosper in life.
Thus, it’s not bad to hope—if, that is, you hope wisely. Still, if you earnestly dedicate yourself to what you want to happen, not really trusting in hope but in your own tactical and prudent efforts, then hope may become redundant—and even be an impediment. As already indicated, when your hopes are false or unrealistic, you can end up feeling not simply frustrated and disappointed but also angry and resentful and possibly embittered as well.