It's Time To Make Adversity Your New Best Friend

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We’ve all been affected by adversity in some form or another. It may be in small ways like an injury that passed with time, a dearth of funds that left us struggling to make ends meet for a while or a falling out with a friend that was eventually patched up. Or it may be something much more serious like an accident that left us permanently changed or the death of a loved one. When this happens, whether our pain is small and manageable or huge and unfathomable, we tend to react in the same way. We ask the world, why? Why did this happen to us? Why were we so afflicted when all around us we see carefree people smiling and oblivious? What could we possibly have done to deserve this? Why does God / Allah / the cosmos hate us? While these reactions are common and completely human, they aren’t necessarily very useful or formative.

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While we can all feel victimized by adversity, we can’t allow ourselves to be beaten into submission by it. We need to own it, master it and use it as a crucible from which we emerge stronger, smarter, kinder and more compassionate. Here’s how…

Seek justice where you can

Adversity is an opportunity. It’s a chance to make the world a better place. When people have wronged us, it’s a chance to show them the error of their ways and give them a chance to atone. When we’re harmed by fate, it’s an opportunity to help others who are similarly afflicted. If you’ve been injured on the road or sidewalk by a negligent driver, it’s your responsibility to seek justice using a legal firm like The Rybak Firm PLLC. If you or someone you care about has been afflicted by an illness, it’s an opportunity to raise awareness of that illness or even raise funds to facilitate better treatment. Adversity gives us the opportunity to seek justice for ourselves and others and make the world a better place.

Treat your adversity as a learning experience

Learning is a valuable commodity. Education is a privilege that many of us are happy to spend thousands and thousands of dollars on. The rarer and more unique the knowledge, the less likely it is that we can’t come by it anywhere else, the more advantageous it is. Adversity gives us learning, knowledge and experience that an education cannot buy. Rather than bemoaning it as a curse, we should accept it as a gift and ensure that we learn everything we can from it.

Adversity reminds us who still believes in us

Adversity brings a number of (heavily disguised) blessings. Among them is showing us who our friends really are. Times of adversity have an uncanny habit of separating the wheat from the chaff when it comes to establishing circles of trust. The people who bail on you are the ones that don’t matter while the people who stick that much closer to you are the ones you need to keep around for life. They also have a funny way of helping you to see the best in yourself, too.

The next time you encounter adversity you owe it to yourself to master it, conquer it, learn from it and make it your new best friend.

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Thanks for stopping by and visiting us today. I know I have personally made adversity my BFF and I hope that if you are struggling that you can find a way to persevere through your hardships. 

"Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." - Isiah 41:10

Have a blessed day. And remember, He doesn't give you what you cannot handle.