Adversity, A Teacher Few Listen To

There are lines of thought that proclaim messages against adversity. They assure that it should be avoided at all costs and point out that a happy life is one that is devoid of difficulties and obstacles. They also promote the idea that any difficulty is a source of discomfort and therefore must be eradicated.

Generalizing about the dark side of adversity is wrong. Whether we like it or not, adversity is part of life. Suffering exists and denying it will not make it go away. In fact, difficulties are a valuable reality, which give body and meaning to existence.

Suppose there is a person who has never encountered adversity. That for one reason or another, he has only experienced happy moments. He has never run into an obstacle and has always gotten what he wants. What would be the consequence of such a life? Surely, the result would be a personality lacking in sensitivity together with the presence of selfishness and even great difficulty in giving value to what one possesses and setting long-term goals.

Just as adversity leads to bitter and sometimes difficult times to cope with, it also brings enormous lessons with it. Those who know how to discover and learn from them are generally also those who lead a more meaningful and fulfilling life.

Positive thinking and adversity

For about three decades, the philosophies of the positive began to be known. Most of these lines of thought originated in the United States and became very popular around the world. Hundreds of best sellers produced and countless seminars, conferences and events they convened.

At its most radical, these types of philosophies practically impose happiness as a way of life. They promote the idea of ​​a blind optimism without nuances, which must prevail over any circumstance. It is an invitation to avoid any negative aspect of situations, people or life itself.

So people are supposed to live in a perpetual state of joy, good spirits and euphoria. As if in life there were no suffering, contradictions, losses and reasons to feel sadness, irritation or frustration.

These types of postures, especially when they are extreme, are an invitation to self-deception. And also a source of guilt, since as that kind of Nirvana is rarely reached, most of the time we condemn ourselves to questioning our inability to access those plenitudes that they proclaim in books and conferences.

Adversity, an inescapable fact

Deep down, we all want to live an existence without the great shocks that losses leave. Or without the bitterness caused by betrayal, lack of love or the inability to achieve objectives that seem decisive to us.

If death did not leave behind that trail of pain, or if we were capable of everything we propose, surely everything would be easier. But why think that the simplest is the best?

Let’s say first that adversity is absolutely inevitable. The very fact that we are all condemned to die already marks a deep limit on our entire existence.

However, much of knowing how to live resides in the ability to face adversity. Look her in the eye, recognize her and accept her, and don’t pretend that we don’t see her. Also take the share of responsibility that corresponds to us in the difficulties we encounter.

The teachings of adversity

Both Eastern and various Western philosophies have given a different place to failure, frustration and adversity. They insist that the key to everything is not in the fact that painful events occur, but in the perspective we take to address them.

You suffer much more not accepting adversity than doing it. The refusal to admit that we have reached a limit and that some desire is impossible, does not mean that the next step is to think that everything good in life has been denied us forever.

We know each other better in times of adversity. We understand life and others better when we have suffered the rigors of suffering on our skin. By adopting a perspective of learning and humility, bad times help us build character. They renew us, they invite us to positive change. Likewise, they contribute to give more meaning and intensity to the many happy moments, which surely also await us along the way.