Overcoming Adversity

The most beautiful thing about life is that it never fully goes our way. While watching a movie, when things go against our predictions and a plot twist takes place, we appreciate the director and label the movie as ‘amazing’. Ironically, when something similar happens to us in life we tend to lose hope and give up, instead of embracing change and failure. Thinking about it, if life went exactly the way we wanted it to go, it would be extremely boring. Yes, we could have accomplished a lot more but that way none of us would’ve truly ‘lived’. It’s exactly like watching a movie when you know the ending, the same thrill just isn’t there as the first time we watch it. What we need to understand is that life is not about accomplishments, trophies, accolades, awards but it is about the experiences that make us who we are and define us as individuals.

To do anything in life or get to where we want to be, we have to learn to trust the process. No journey is a 100% guaranteed pathway to success, there will be setbacks, failures, losses and disappointments. This is where passion comes into the picture. If you truly love something, from the bottom of your heart, you won’t give it up. When things look risky and you don’t know if it’s worth taking a shot if you’re truly passionate and 100% committed, then take the leap of faith. The universe pays back the courageous. We need to learn to handle adversity and the easiest and best way is acceptance. Accept that you are in that situation, see what you can learn and reflect upon it. Sitting down and feeling sorry for yourself won’t do any good, it’s absolutely useless to dwell on the past because what’s done is done, unless you can time travel, you can’t change the past.

It’s often said that empty pockets, failure and a broken heart are life's best teachers. No situation is absolute 100% positive or negative. When we go through failures if we are willing to see the positive in the negatives, we will grow as individuals. Adversities are a refining process that allow us to introspect and become better. Here is a famous tale about an eagle. An eagle has the average life span of 70 years. Around the age of 40, its long sharp beak starts to bend, feathers become heavy and stick to its body and its talons are no longer able to grab prey. The eagle then goes back to its nest and starts beating its beak on the branch until it breaks. Once the new beak grows, it starts to pluck out its talons and feathers. The story is an allegory about change*. The eagle goes through a painful process of change only to make itself better. When life throws a difficult situation, it's only to rise back up stronger and better.

Nothing is constant in the universe, neither the good times, nor the struggles, nothing. Although it is hard for us to see the benefits when we are in a critical spot, once we are positive it's easy to look back and see how that has shaped you into who you are today. Like Steve Jobs once said, "You can't connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards."

*The tale about the eagle may not be factually correct. It is used as an allegory(A story that is used to depict an inner/hidden meaning)