We all know the downside of adversity: it's tiresome, and if it pushes us up against our limits long enough, it can break us.
If my life is any indication, some of our adversity is outside our choosing and control, while other instances of adversity result from our own decisions and/or traits. We may take risks with the goal of advancing, and end up with adversity. We may choose a difficult path and find it far more arduous than we could possibly have imagined. Or we may have experienced success from the start, and be unprepared for the adversity that inevitably follows easy success.
Longtime correspondent Matthew W. recently observed that humans share a core trait with other forms of life: "Just like animals and crops, if you give too much up front, they grow weak, and being unable to stand any hardship, eventually succumb to simple problems that any normal living thing could tolerate. I see the same application in work. The one who must struggle ceaselessly during training flourishes when placed into a space that requires typical prowess, whereas those who are constantly led by the hand, require massive support systems to do even simple tasks, until their ineptitude ultimately bankrupts the company, leading to their loss of work."
This
is the upside of adversity: a steady diet of adversity prepares one for
both the low-level adversities of daily life (Murphy's Law: Anything
that can go wrong will go wrong, etc.) but also for the metaphorical
droughts and floods that push us to our limits of endurance and
adaptability.
As the famed stoic emperor Marcus Aurelius observed, "You have power over your mind--not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength." In other words, we don't control everything going on around us, we only control our response to the circumstances we find ourselves in....<<<Read More>>>...
