Harnessing Hardship: Why Facing Challenges is Essential for Personal Development
“Whatever doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
“Adversity” is a part of life. Nothing worthwhile comes easily. If it did, more people would be doing it. And, by definition, it wouldn’t be worthwhile.
The only way to get to the other side of adversity to go THROUGH it. No skirting around the thing. Go right through that thing. Whatever it is. Chances are, you’ve made the obstacle bigger than it really is.
Your brain does that for one specific reason: safety. And that’s fine. It’s always nice to be safe. But safety doesn’t bring on the types of success worthy of talking about to your kids. Prudent risk-taking does.
In The Obstacle is the Way, modern-day Stoic Ryan Holiday talks about “perception, action, and will.”
Perception. We perceive what our brains want us to perceive. We tend to make problems worse by ruminating on the obstacle. We then go through a downward spiral of catastrophizing. This is an automatic response. At least it is with me. It’s not until I pause the autopilot and reflect on what’s going on that I see with more clarity. See hardships through different perspectives will help get us through the default response of thinking this is the end of the world.
Action. Once we reframe the problem to where it’s less daunting, we can act. With a clearer frame of mind, we can make more informed (and less emotional) decisions. This is never a bad idea.
Will. Will is all about hanging in there and rolling with the punches when life throws you curveballs. It means keeping cool, staying humble, and bouncing back. It’s about having the grit to keep going, even when things get tough, and making the best out of any situation.
The next time adversity and hardship stare you down, think about these things.
