頑張って!

“Do your best!” or “good luck!”

A Japanese expression used commonly to encourage effort and perseverance. It comes from the verb 頑張る (ganbaru) which essentially means “to do one’s best” or “to persevere”.

If you ever watch Japanese climbing videos (or climb in Japan), you’ll most likely hear this phrase as people cheer for others on the wall. There are also obviously equivalents in other languages, such as “Allez”, or “화이팅”. Phonetically, I am attached to the sound of 頑張って.

I think the idea of rooting for others is really special. There’s something extremely generative about the whole process that I can’t fully describe yet, but I have a general sense of its shape. It feels like an emotional investment that has too many positive direct and side effects to ignore. It feels stupid not to root for others.

Cheering feels like this deep undercut that comes from my stomach and launches upwards to my heart and then my eyes. Sometimes I can feel myself holding back tears, thinking about how hard someone has worked to get to the point where they are now.

And what does it cost me? What is the price of genuine encouragement?

How far can a little faith go?