I Support Your Perseverance

What does 'Jonbeo' (존버) mean? It's a word that conveys the meaning of 'persistently enduring'.

Occasionally, I encounter people who dismiss the Jonbeo spirit. I understand why they say that. If you keep clinging to something that seems impossible, you might just waste your precious youth and time. But in a 100-year life, isn't it difficult to say definitively what is a waste and what isn't before the lid of the coffin closes?

Sometimes you encounter something that you want to give up after only trying it once, and sometimes you encounter something that you absolutely don't want to give up even after hundreds of failures. What that 'something' is differs from person to person. I, too, have sometimes blundered into things where I shouldn't have persisted, and there are times when I've desperately worked hard because I wanted to Jonbeo.

If you have something that you are persistently enduring, no matter how painful or agonizing it may be, I want to say that you are a happy person. Some people don't even have anything they want to persistently endure, and some people haven't experienced it so they don't know what value it holds.

So, regardless of what others may say, if you find fulfillment and happiness in pouring your dedication and effort into something, I want to cheer on your Jonbeo. Even if the persistence is difficult, if you embrace that hardship as part of life, you are truly remarkable.

▶ I want to do everything well. I want to be a perfect person. But I'm not. I'm overflowing with unbearable shortcomings. But I can't give up. So I just embrace my trembling heart. Though not strong, I'm cultivating the strength to endure.

-Ssuk, nameless emotions