“We don’t develop courage by being happy every day. We develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity.” – Barbara De Angelis If you’re reading this post, I first want to congratulate you on coming this far in your journey of growing stronger through adversity. Adversity, by definition, is a challenge or hardship that impacts your life. It can come in many forms, including emotional, financial, spiritual, physical, mental, and social. In order to grow stronger, you have to identify what your adversity actually is while learning from your experience and not letting it define you. Identify your adversity. Name your adversity. Before you can grow stronger through your hardship, you first have to identify what it is and what’s causing it. Sometimes, the adversity you face can be easy to spot. Other times, it may not present itself as clearly. Examples of growing through adversity: Emotional adversity – questioning your self-worth or value in life
Financial adversity – being unable to afford essential products such as food, clothing, and medicine.
Physical adversity – adapting to life with a physical injury such as chronic pain or a broken leg
The sooner you can find out what challenges impact your life, the sooner you’ll be better prepared to address those challenges, and it will be much easier to learn from your experiences. Find the lesson (or lessons) in what you’re going through. Even the most successful people have experienced their fair share of adversity. One thing that they do is learn from their experiences to be more equipped to handle similar situations in the future. When you find yourself going through challenges, ask yourself these four questions: What have I learned about myself through this experience?
Is there anything that reminds me of the adversity I faced that triggers negative emotions?
Are there people in my life that have helped me (and hurt me) through my adversity?
What advice would I give to someone else going through the same thing I went through?
There will always be at least one learning opportunity when experiencing adversity. Your strength will come from what you do with the lessons you learned and how you apply them to anything you face in the future. Growing stronger through adversity: final thoughts The one thing that makes adversity unique is that it doesn’t look the same to everyone. The same financial hardship can affect two families in very different ways. While the adversity you face is part of your life journey, it does not have to become your identity. The key is to find the hardships that impact your life and identify what causes them. That’s when the real work begins.