Endurance is not an exercise in reckless machoism.  It is not an adolescent attempt to prove that we can take pain.  It is, in fact, a very feminine way to look at the world.  It allows us to be committed and realistic at the same time.  We do what we do, not because we are sure to succeed at it, but because it brings out something good in us that nothing else can touch.

-Joan Chittister, Scarred by Struggle, Transformed by Hope