Why you should be thankful for hardship
Do you ever wish that you were born richer, or more intelligent, or better looking?
Do you wish that the world opened up to you more easily, as if on a silver platter?
Do you ever pity yourself for your own predicament in life and envy those who have it all so easy, without the difficulty, the hardship, the suffering?
Well perhaps you should be doing the opposite.
Start pitying those who have it all given to them.
Who have never faced difficulty and so don’t know how to dig deep and succeed against the odds.
Who have never faced hardship and so don’t know how to roll with the punches and come out on top.
Who have never deeply suffered and so lack the capacity to appreciate & feel deep joy.
For if you can experience the lows, but learn to rise above them, you not only experience the highs more deeply, but you also understand how to navigate the path between them.
Those who have never had to do so will lack a depth which you possess that allows you to see the world in brighter color.
But furthermore, they will be subject to the ebbs and flows of the tide of life, perpetually caught up in its currents, because they never had to learn how to swim.
But you had no choice but to learn. And so in that learning, you developed the ability to guide yourself to where you want to go, regardless of the direction of the tide.
And if your reaction to this is “But I have not learned, I am still being swept along by the tide,” then you too should take solace in it. Because it means you are aware of your situation and can now start learning how to swim against the current.
This is a path that is open to anyone willing to put in the effort. Perhaps you do not believe this can be true. But then again, does a child believe it’s possible for him to glide effortlessly along the water’s surface?
Probably not, until he starts to see others have managed to do the same. And eventually finds out for himself.
The beauty of this process of learning is that once you do it in one area of your life, you start recognizing opportunities around you to do it in other areas of your life.
As you continue to experience suffering & continue to learn from it, you eventually stop viewing it as a curse, and instead begin to recognize it for what it is: an opportunity for growth.
Because absent suffering, there is no impetus for growth. It may not be the growth you want, but it is usually the growth you need.
If you find yourself frustrated or annoyed with a situation or wishing you had it better, try doing these four things:
1. Pause & take a deep breath
2. Try to identify potential benefits of your situation, however few and far between they may seem. At a minimum, it probably provides you a deeper understanding of others in the same situation. It might increase your range of emotional or spiritual depth. What else?
3. Try to identify what would be required to either change your situation, to feel better about your present situation, or both. Maybe it's learning a new skill, changing how you think about the situation, working on acceptance, or something else. What might developing the specific skills, mindsets, abilities, or whatever it is mean for your life in general?
4. Recognize how your situation offers you these benefits and opportunities that you would otherwise not be presented with. See how it actually gives you advantages over those who didn't have to go through what you are.
Like water turned into wine, your sources of hardship can become sources of strength.
So be thankful when you experience such difficulty. Embrace it, bask in it, thrive in it.
Let it propel you forth to bigger & better things.
And you will be unstoppable.