Perseverance and stubbornness are words that, at first glance, have a similar meaning. But for some reason it is immediately clear that stubbornness is something good, and stubbornness is something empty and bad. What exactly do these words mean and what is the difference between them?
What dictionaries say
To determine what words similar in meaning mean, it is more useful to refer to dictionaries. Ozhegov's dictionary describes perseverance as consistency and firmness in the implementation of the desired, in Ushakov's dictionary you can find words that perseverance is the desire to achieve something important.
About stubbornness Ozhegov writes the following: this is extreme obstinacy. Ushakov believes that stubbornness is intractability. Nevertheless, in some cases, stubbornness and stubbornness are considered synonyms, for example, the dictionary of synonyms of the Russian language displays these words in one list, Ozhegov also uses stubbornness as synonyms for stubbornness.
What is the difference
It turns out that perseverance is something that goes hand in hand with determination. A person has a goal, and he follows it, no matter what. Whatever obstacles he encounters on his life path, he does not give up, but stubbornly goes forward.
Stubbornness is outwardly similar behavior, a person also does not give up, does not give in to persuasion and does not agree to anything else, but the essence is completely different: a stubborn person has no goal. He stands his ground out of a strange desire to emerge victorious, when in reality he has no need for it.
Perseverance is undoubtedly a positive quality. It was thanks to perseverance that many great discoveries in science were made, various hard-to-reach territories of the globe were discovered, the first flight into space was made, and so on. People have reached the heights of development thanks to the persistence of individual representatives of humanity. We can say that persistence is inherent in people. But stubbornness is no less characteristic of the human race. Due to stubbornness, different peoples are constantly in conflict, politicians cannot agree among themselves and quarrels occur in families.
We can say that stubbornness is determined by the strength of the will of a person, and stubbornness is dictated by the harmfulness of character. A stubborn person does not always realize that he is doing wrong, it is not for nothing that there are so many proverbs among the people that ridicule the stubborn, for example, they say “stubborn as a donkey,” and the donkey here is not the ideal of intellectuality.
If you find yourself stubborn, it's never too late to admit it and give up the wrong behavior. Some people find it very difficult to find compromises with others, because they do not want to give in one iota, they absolutely do not meet halfway. But this indicates the immaturity of the person's personality, and it will be extremely difficult to achieve success with such a character. Stubborn people dispose to themselves, and stubborn people repulse.
People sometimes show stubbornness without even realizing it. To control yourself, try to mentally stand in the place of the interlocutor in the argument. Perhaps if you try to understand his position, his arguments will become clearer to you, and you will be more willing to meet halfway. If you yourself are arguing with someone stubborn and you see that it is not possible to convince the person, then try to present your arguments in such a way that he understands you as fully as possible. Stubbornness is often based on absolute misunderstanding. If that fails, then it might be better to give up trying and think of another way of solving the issue.
