The Power of Adversity


When adversity strikes, it often feels like we are plunged into a dark void from which we will never emerge. But when things are the darkest, the stars come out and shine their light upon us so that we can see the path before us. Everyone experiences darkness; everyone goes through rough times. What's important to remember is that rough times are the foundations for future progress. Every type of adversity contains within it lessons that can be harnessed to fuel your success in the future. When adversity strikes, it can tear us apart, or it can build us up so that we can face whatever else life may bring. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger.

Adversity is like a hurricane, and we are like trees in the storm. If we stiffen up and stand unbending when it hits, we will break in two. But if we are able to bend in the wind, to listen and learn even while a tempest rages around us, then we may suffer damage, but we will survive the storm.

There is adversity everywhere in the natural world. There are hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanoes, and earthquakes. There are natural predators for every animal. But there is also a balance in nature. Floods may destroy one year's crops, but they may also make the fields more fertile for the next year's growth.

We, too, need to find that balance. If you look at today's high achievers, they have all experienced much adversity and kept on going. They learned its lessons and used them to move forward with their lives. At the end of our lives, what we look back on with the most pride is the way we stood up to adversity and the way we came through the tough times with grace and character. These are the times that challenge us, that can either break us or make us break records.

The human brain has the capability to create our surroundings, to limit the natural adversity we face. But there is no way to completely eliminate adversity, nor should we seek to eliminate it all together. When things come too easily, we lose our hunger. We lose our focus. We get lazy and complacent. We need to learn to be thankful for the good things in our lives, and to appreciate what we can learn from the bad.

Strength comes from struggle, not from taking the path of least resistance. The real test is not whether bad things happen to you or whether you experience failure, but how you deal with adversity and setbacks. No one wants adversity, nor should anyone go looking for trouble. But when it comes, we must learn to make the best of it before it gets the best of us. If we don't use the adversity we've gone through before as momentum to get through even tougher times, then its lessons are wasted. We will have suffered and struggled in vain. Just as advertising legend Joseph Sugarman said:

"Not many people are willing to give failure a second opportunity. The bitter pill of failure...is often more than people can handle...If you're willing to accept failure and learn from it, if you're willing to consider failure as a blessing in disguise and bounce back, you've got the potential of harnessing one of the world's most powerful success forces."




Diamond Power. Gems of Wisdom From America's Greatest Marketer
Diamond Power: Gems of Wisdom from Americas Greatest Marketer
ISBN: 1564146987
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 207
Authors: Barry Farber

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