The Importance of Facing Adversity and Using It as an Opportunity to Grow

There is adversity and challenge in life. The question isn’t whether you are faced with adversity or not. You’re going to meet adversity but how are you going to face it? Take all the energy you want to use towards giving up and divert it into something better; something worth achieving.

Never give up in the face of adversity. Life is worth fighting for even when you struggle through immense pain - mentally, physically, and emotionally. Resilience is not just your ability to spring back back, but also your capacity to adapt in the face of challenging circumstances, whilst maintaining a stable and firm mental wellbeing. Resilience isn't a personality trait – it's something that we can all take steps to achieve but it is a skill; a very useful skill in life.

It was an ordinary day in the life of a six year old; daydreaming about the days to come, unaware of the many troubles I would have to face. School had been the usual: the same old lessons, the same old teachers and the same old classroom. When a young child finds the opportunity to get a teddy bear within their reach, they seize that opportunity. As a consequence of being a young child, I also decided to seize that opportunity expect this time these choices led me to fall. I took a leap of faith onto a half-broken glass table that was opening up an adventurous path up to the top shelf but instead this adventurous path ended up taking me to the hospital.To fight means to put forth a determined effort or to resolve/gain by struggle. All I can say is I struggled and I survived because I fought. Life is worth fighting for. You will be faced with pain, suffering and struggles but that is natural. To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning and in the suffering which motivates you to keep going. One of the most difficult things everyone has to learn is that for your entire life you must keep fighting and adjusting. No matter who you are or what your position is you must keep fighting. If you believe in yourself and have dedication and pride - and never quit, you'll be a winner. The price of victory is high but so are the rewards. Fortitude refers to strength in the face of adversity or difficulty. When someone has fortitude it means that they have emotional power or reserves and the ability to withstand adversity. People who have fortitude are described in an admiring way for their courage and this word comes from the Latin word fortitudo, meaning 'strength.'

Without adverse situations to overcome, you would never learn. This resiliency, in the long run, will catapult you to higher and higher levels in life. Without these situations, there would be no sense of urgency. There would be no pain to make you change. Look back at the times in your life when you made a great change. Think back to the times that you changed jobs, relationship partners, or friends. Think back to the times that you changed your behaviour for the better, when you finally broke a bad habit. Adversity, not comfort, creates change. As it is said, “Smooth seas do not make skilful sailors.’’ We must experience obstacles to achieve goals. Obstacles help us build and learn the skills we need to succeed. We have to be strong in order to move through whatever we want to get through.

Even when the water is calm, and there is no signs of danger, it doesn’t mean you are able to control a boat. Things may end up a little harder than we expect, and we push through tough waters for things that are worth it by ignoring all the troubles around us and focusing on the aim to fight and succeed. If everything were easy, seamless and consistent we wouldn’t be appreciative and grateful for the good things and people in our lives. Sometimes a storm hits to open our eyes and let go of things that no longer serve us and see the good things we weren’t paying attention to before. It's the hard knocks in life that soften out our rough edges. Shape us into something more refined and resilient. All of us have the capacity to shape our perspective and attitude. Living through that experience helped me to become the sailor of my own boat. A sailor who knows what it is to endure the typhoons and crashing waves of life. If smooth seas made skilful sailors, when the sea gets rough the sailors will not know how to control the boat. When the sea gets rough, the sailors need to prepare for what lies ahead. When the storm comes out of nowhere and the sailor is able to manage and move forward, that’s what makes a skilful sailor.

Success does not happen by taking the easy route. You become better and stronger through life’s challenges. If the water was always flat we wouldn’t be making much effort to get to where want to be. We don’t learn by getting everything right. We learn from our mistakes and life’s challenges. When we acknowledge mistakes and chose to learn from them it makes us better for the future. Instead of giving up, seek to learn from the troubles we face. Instead of fighting to survive, we must fight to thrive.