By Endurance We Conquer: What Shackleton and the Endurance Voyage Can Teach Us about Overcoming our Own Challenges

We all go through dark, stormy, and uncertain periods in our lives, facing crises and adversity. One story that inspires me through the difficult days of my life is the story of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s journey with the Endurance. Shackleton’s struggle is a metaphor for the unique challenges we each face in life. Here are four lessons we can draw from their remarkable experiences.

Background

Ernest Shackleton, an explorer of the early 1900s, lived when explorers were driven to be the first to do something huge. Shackleton wanted to be the first to reach the South Pole. But he was unsuccessful. He didn’t dwell on this failure and set his sights to be the first to cross Antarctica. He gathered a 28-man crew, including one stowaway, to make the 1800-mile journey to cross Antarctica. Shackleton’s motto was, “By Endurance We Conquer” and aptly named his boat the Endurance. Little did they know their mission would shift from exploration to survival as they wouldn’t touch land for 497 days and they spent nearly two years stranded.

The Endurance departed on 8 August 1914 and by early December they became lodged in pack ice in the Weddell Sea. Pack ice is a large area of floating ice that is not attached to land, so it moves with the wind and currents. Over approximately the next 45 days, the crew of the Endurance struggled to chip through the pack ice, hoping to free itself.

For the next eight months they were firmly stuck in the pack ice, trapped without communication, and unable to call for help. They simply had to survive and save themselves. Shackleton purposefully sought to gainfully occupy his men, to keep them busy, and engaged. They read, played games, taught each other skills, did skits, exercised, and did chores. During this time everybody was important, everyone needed to help the cause.

But they endured many difficult times. They went through the Arctic Winter or the Polar Night, where the sun literally didn’t come up for approximately six months. They spent most, and sometimes their entire day, in deep darkness, and in cold, freezing arctic temperatures.

In November 2015, the Endurance finally succumbed to the pressure of the pack ice and was crushed and sunk. The crew moved camp directly onto the ice pack with whatever they could carry in three lifeboats. For approximately the next five months they floated on the pack ice until in April 2016, Elephant Island appeared on the horizon.

Once on Elephant Island, Shackleton knew that his men couldn’t survive another Arctic Winter and they needed help. So, he took five other men and departed on a two-week voyage, 800 nautical miles, to the South Georgia Island where they knew there was a whaling station. On this journey they crossed the stormiest, most violent and dangerous seas in the world, while also navigating through a hurricane, all on a tiny lifeboat.

After approximately two weeks, they landed on the South Georgia Island, but they were on the wrong side and so for the next two weeks Shackleton and two other men crossed uncharted arctic glaciers in order to get to the Stromness Whaling Station. This part of the journey itself had some amazing epic stories. Can you imagine the look on the faces of the whaling station crew to see Shackleton, 21 months later and believed dead, standing before you?

After they got to the whaling station, it took another three months and four boat tries before Shackleton was able to get back to Elephant Island to rescue the rest of his crew. He feared that he was going to bring home their bodies. But the entire crew of the Endurance all survived. They endured knowing Shackleton would come for them. Of Shackleton and the Endurance crew it was later said, “I do not know how they did it, except they had to” (Duncan Carse).

Just as Shackleton and his crew found hope in dire circumstances, we, too, can find light, hope, and help during our darkest and most challenging circumstances. I believe we all will have Shackleton like moments in our life. We all will have Antarctic experiences. Here are four lessons we can learn from Shackleton and the Crew of the Endurance:

Lesson 1:  Enduring Through our Darkest Times

Like Shackleton’s crew, we all face times when the ice around us feels unbreakable-we feel stuck. But with determination and faith, we can move forward. Sometimes no matter how hard we work to chip away on the ice on our own, we cannot break free. It wasn’t that we failed, the ice just won for the moment. As long as we keep trying, we’ve never failed though. So, we just keep trying something else.

Sometimes we feel trapped, crushed under the pressure of life. Yet, like Shackleton and the Endurance crew, we can keep going - they kept working, they never quit. They never accepted defeat. They just did the next right thing, the one singular thing they could do, at the moment, to survive and thrive.

Lesson 2:  Never Quit-The Sun Will Rise

We may find ourselves in our own Arctic Winters, our Polar Nights where it feels like there’s no light in our life. We may feel like we are in complete darkness. These are difficult periods. But I promise you the sun will rise again. Light will come. Every sunrise is a reminder that no matter how dark our day is today-tomorrow the light will rise again. Shackleton commented, “Just when things looked their worse, they changed for the best. I have marveled often at the thin line that divides success from failure and the sudden turn that leads from apparently certain disaster to comparative safety.”

The crew of the Endurance continued all winter, hour after hour, day after day, for months and a year, then a second. Shackleton stated, “I look for…optimism: especially optimism in the face of reverses and apparent defeat. Optimism is true moral courage.” In our Arctic Winters, I promise you, the sun will come up again. In fact, it will come up to the point where there is constant sunlight for a period, like in Antarctica.

For many their religious faith is an important source of light. “When I look back at those days, I have no doubt that Providence guided us, not only across those snow fields, but across the storm….I know that during that long and racking march of thirty-six hours over the unnamed mountains and glaciers of South Georgia, it seemed to me often that we were four, not three.

Lesson 3:  Crossing the Story Seas of Life

There are times in our life where we find ourselves crossing the stormiest and most violent seas of our life, the most challenging times of our life. We do it in part because others are relying on us, and we know that there is land and help and hope ahead. But we must go over the stormy seas to get there. Shackleton would say, “Men [and women] are not made from easy victories but based on great defeats.”

Sometimes we find ourselves, no matter how sincere our efforts were, on the wrong side of the island and we must keep working, keep moving forward, to cross the arctic glaciers of our life. No matter the difficulty, no matter the trial, or extreme the situation in which we find ourselves, find the adventure in the experience and keep going. “Difficulties are just things to overcome” (Shackleton).

Lesson 4:  Recognizing that Every Person Matters – You are Needed

The experience of Shackleton and the crew of the Endurance demonstrated that every person matters. On this voyage, every person on that crew was needed. They all needed to keep each other going. They had to push each other. They had to help each other. Similarly, our crew-our family and personal community are critical support systems.

When we’re going through our winters, our storms, and we feel trapped in ice, perhaps the reason we’re going through this is precisely so that we can help other people who are in the same situation. We are most qualified to help the people we used to be, to help the people similarly struggling, to help those who are now where we once traveled. You matter, you are needed.

There are others around you, capable and experienced travelers, that will help you. The crew of the Endurance gained valuable experience the first Arctic Winter that enabled them to survive as they waited for Shackleton to return. Shackleton’s previous artic adventures gave him the training and experience, he and his crew would need to survive. The experiences we go through in life may just be so that we have the tools to help other people and to be more capable ourselves for the future challenges we will face.

Help and Hope are Here and Ahead

We are fortunate to have good men and women who dedicate their lives to helping people through winter nights, arctic winters, through storms and violent seas, and can help those trapped in ice. Counselors and mental health professionals and others help to give us the tools, perspective, and support to help get through being trapped or stuck in ice, to give us the tools to know how to navigate the stormy seas of life, to see where land and more help exist. It is not a sign of weakness to get help or to talk to someone. It is a sign of strength. We should feel proud about getting help and I know it works!

If you feel stuck or overwhelmed, know that reaching out for help is a sign of strength. Whether it’s a counselor, a life coach, a chaplain, a member of your clergy, a parent, teacher, or trusted friend, take that first step today. Even talk with the old guy down the street or another trusted person. My greatest heroes are people who have said, “I need help”. My greatest heroes, the people I esteem as the strongest people in the world, are the ones who say, “I’m trapped,” “I’m stuck,” or “I need help.” When I’m going over my stormy seas, when I feel trapped, I think about these modern-day heroes, giants in my life. Their examples give me hope and courage.

Conclusion

Shackleton’s story is a testament to resilience, hope, and the power of the human spirit. Whether we face story seas or long, dark winters in our lives, we can endure and overcome with determination, support, and faith in brighter days ahead.

Perhaps this story of Shackleton will resonate with you. I’ve included a few resources in the comments but frankly there isn’t room for all of them. The best resource is your voice to say today, “I’m here, I’m not right, I need help,” and then take the steps to accept the help that’s offered and available.

This story, combined with my own story, is one reason I decided to be a personal development coach. I want to help others through their Shackleton moments, their Antarctica experiences, and their life journeys. Schedule a free consultation for more details.

Please share this with others. Share your insights in the comments. What lessons from Shackleton and the crew of the Endurance do you see? What other stories inspire you? How have you overcome your artic winters, storm tossed journeys, and other challenges?

References: 

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34856379

https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/80438.Ernest_Shackleton?page=2

https://www.history.com/news/shackleton-endurance-survival

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/shackleton/1914/timeline.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hpx_3_axmI