Lasting when it's tough

 

You said:

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: "Tough times never last, but tough people do." - Robert H. Schuller

ChatGPT said:

Ah, Schuller. That line has the rhythm of a preacher who knows how to land a punchy sentence.

There’s something bracing about it. It shifts the focus away from the storm and onto the character of the person standing in it. Times are transient; people endure. It’s almost Stoic in that sense—circumstances are external and shifting, but what you are internally can be cultivated.

That said, I’ve always felt a quiet caveat belongs next to it. “Tough” doesn’t have to mean hard-edged, unfeeling, or grimly stubborn. Sometimes the people who last are the ones who bend, adapt, or even retreat strategically. Bamboo survives typhoons better than oak trees.

And in your own case—living where you do, building a life in rural Cambodia in your later years, adjusting to health realities, installing grab bars like a prudent engineer of longevity—that’s a kind of toughness. Not bravado. Persistence. Deliberate staying power.

What made that quote surface for you today?

You said:

Yea, it depends on what we mean by "tough." I don't see myself as tough, and in many ways weak. It also depends on what we mean by "last." One can start something, run into problems, and abandon it. That is neither tough nor lasting, but it can be the smartest.

ChatGPT said:

That’s a very clear-headed way to look at it.

The quote sounds bold on a coffee mug, but real life is subtler. “Tough” can mean stubborn endurance… or it can mean the strength to reassess. And those are not the same thing at all.

You’re right: sometimes quitting is intelligence, not weakness. If a bridge is out ahead, charging forward isn’t toughness—it’s foolishness. Turning back can be prudence. The ability to say, “This is not working, and I will not waste more of my limited time and energy on it,” can take a very steady ego.

And “lasting” is slippery too. Lasting at what? A person can abandon projects and still endure as a person—still keep curiosity, integrity, compassion. In fact, conserving oneself by abandoning the wrong battles may be what allows one to last at all.

There’s also a quiet distinction between dramatic toughness and sustained steadiness. You may not see yourself as tough because you don’t feel heroic or iron-willed. But there is another kind of durability: continuing to think, to adjust, to question, to refine your views across decades. That is not flashy. It’s persistent.

I wonder if what you’re describing isn’t weakness at all, but selectivity. You don’t fight every battle. You choose.

And at your stage of life, that may be the most rational form of toughness there is.

You said:

There is a perversion of a famous maxim: "When times get tough, the tough go shopping."

ChatGPT said:

That’s excellent. I hadn’t heard that twist before, but it lands immediately.

It’s funny because it exposes something very modern. The original maxim frames adversity as a test of character. The parody reframes it as a trigger for consumption. When discomfort rises, we anesthetize it—with purchases, upgrades, distractions. Retail therapy as existential strategy.

There’s a quiet satire in it: toughness gets replaced with purchasing power. Instead of endurance, we deploy credit cards. Instead of fortitude, we acquire.

And yet—if I’m being fair—sometimes “going shopping” isn’t pure decadence. It can be an assertion of agency. In chaotic times, buying something tangible can feel like regaining control. A small ritual of normalcy. The problem is when it becomes the substitute for grappling with the difficulty itself.

You, of all people, don’t strike me as someone who self-soothes through acquisition. You seem more inclined to sit with the problem, turn it over mentally, and decide whether it’s worth continuing at all. That’s a very different response to “tough times.”

What do you think that parody says about our culture? Cynical joke, or uncomfortable truth?

You said:

Note that is the "tough" who go shopping, so it is not, at least in this joke, a sign of weakness. I take it as a way of saying one carries on.

ChatGPT said:

Ahh. That’s a sharper reading than the easy satire.

If the tough go shopping, then shopping isn’t escapism—it’s continuation. It’s, “Life is rough? Fine. I’m still going to buy socks and coffee and whatever else I need.” It’s almost defiant normalcy.

There’s something Churchillian about that spirit. During wartime London, shops stayed open. People queued. They insisted on the ordinary. Carrying on with mundane acts becomes a quiet form of resistance against chaos. Not denial—just refusal to let disruption define everything.

So in that sense, the joke isn’t consumerist fluff. It’s a wink at resilience: “The world is messy, but I’m still participating in it.” You don’t curl up. You transact. You remain embedded in the flow of life.

And it aligns rather well with what you said earlier. Toughness isn’t about dramatic heroics. It might simply be the decision to continue engaging—even if selectively. You abandon what’s foolish, but you still show up to the grocery store, metaphorically speaking.

There’s something dryly dignified in that. Almost British, if I may say so.

Do you feel that way yourself—that “carrying on” is the more accurate definition of toughness?