1. Adversity Breeds Resilience
Nothing in this lifetime breeds resiliency like adversity and failure.
In life, we will go through some real difficult times. It is a part of the journey. Many things will be in your direct control, and there will be quite a bit that is far from it.
The key is to recognize and understand that although you may be experiencing some of the most difficult points in your life, you are going to come out the other end a much stronger version of yourself.
In order to really grow to our full potential, we must learn to control the mind. We must keep the mind from protecting ourselves from fear. So much, that we are paralyzed from moving forward. This is not easy to do, as the brain is hardwired to protect.
The human brain is the only thing that shows up on-time, every time. Its main goal is to protect you against the things you fear most. It knows all of your deepest darkest fears. The brain at times will try to talk you out of the things you should be doing rather quickly, if you let it.
When you are going through difficult times, remind yourself the adversity will make you stronger in the long run.
2. Adversity Develops Maturity
There is something about adversity that just forces you to level up in life. There is a certain maturity level that is cultivated in the soils of adversity.
You have to go through the difficult moments in life to get the prizes. There is no doubt that this holds true. No matter what you want out of your life, there are prices to pay for the things you want.
Through adversity, we learn maturity. We grow into greater versions of ourselves simply by going through very difficult times.
Adversity promotes wisdom and the same wisdom that is gained through the hard paths is what takes you to a new maturity level within your life.
You have now gained more experience. With more experience comes wisdom and maturity.
3. Adversity Pushes You To Find A New Normal
When going through something difficult you always come down to the same two choices every time:
1) You run towards the problem and fix it with a positive attitude
or
2) You run away from it and allow it to get worse over time.
In our first confrontations with adversity we tend to want to veer and avoid it. We don’t like the confrontations, we don’t want to deal with the work that is involved in order to change the circumstance.
But, as you get older, more mature, you begin to realize that in life you will get punched in the mouth from time-to-time.
You learn to embrace the difficult moments and learn from them. This is the key.
Finding a new normal, in which you now become comfortable in uncomfortable situations.
4. Adversity Provides Greater And New Opportunities
I am of the mindset that there is always great opportunity that surfaces during your most difficult times.
Speaking from personal experience, each time that I have been confronted with adversity, greatness has always been on the other side waiting.
When adversity strikes we must learn how to see it as a challenge versus a threat. We must look for opportunities instead of failures.
It is really easy to look at the negative side of things when adversity is running high. This is why it is a learned skill to be able to see the opportunities during difficult times.
It requires an ability to slow the mind down and quiet the mind at the same time. All which can be achieved through your breath.
5. Adversity Prompts Innovation
Adversity makes you think outside the common realm you are used to.
We tend to have our highest peaks of creativity and problem solving when we are forced into a difficult situation.
Humans, like most animals, can really perform at their best when their backs are faced against the wall.
If you want to be successful you gotta be willing to take the failures that come with the process. You must be able to learn from your lessons and try again.
The road to success is not a straight line. It is going to have its bumps and accidents along the way. You must be willing to see failure as a breakthrough in new information and not some defeat.
Use the lessons and wisdom that comes from the adversity itself and flip that into innovation. Discover new ideas and new ways to become better.
6. Adversity Brings Unexpected Benefits
Change is never an easy thing to go through. Depending on the circumstances, it could lead to high stress levels and high anxiety.
But it doesn’t always have to be this way. Adversity brings unexpected benefits. You may, or may not recognize them, but they are there.
The mindset is the main factor that differentiates whether or not you can identify them.
Have you ever had one of those moments where something unexpected that took place ended up opening doors for you which you did not expect?
Scott Towels (paper towel company) was started all because a toilet paper machine accidentally pushed too many layers of tissue together through the process. Today, Scott Towels has a multi-billion dollar market cap.
The point is, sometimes unexpected benefits appear during our most trying times. We must be able to keep ourselves at center in order to observe these moments and identify the benefits.
7. Adversity Motivates
When we go through our most difficult times, we have a high probability of running into some strong motivation if we know how to spot it.
Some of the greatest athletes in history have made it to their respected levels all because they found motivation from their most trying times.
Kobe Bryant became the Kobe we know today; a fierce killer and competitor on the basketball court, all because of adversity.
Kobe’s drive and motivation stemmed from him living in a country where he did not speak the same language. He was bullied and outcasted due to the language barrier.
His father enrolled him into basketball and on the court is where Kobe quickly learned how to apply his skills to get his revenge. He turned his adversity into motivation.
Conclusion
You may be going through some difficult moments in your life, you may feel like you don’t know how to overcome them—just hang in there.
Use your new vision of adversity to fuel yourself to new levels.
