The Gift of Adversity

onward excerpts personal development stoicism Apr 20, 2020
Creative On Purpose
The Gift of Adversity
1:55
 

Today often looks and feels a lot like yesterday. It’s easy to assume that tomorrow will look and feel much the same. This is the seductive delusion perpetuated by the status quo. Every day is more-or-less another one of those.

And then something happens. Things go sideways. The world gets turned upside down. Every day is a topsy-turvy carnival ride. Suddenly, everything is uncertain.

Our instinctual response to unpredictability and the unknown is anxiousness. Adversity causes the evolutionary imperative for fight or flight to kick in. You find yourself lashing out or hiding under the covers. 

But every situation, no matter how dire, presents as many opportunities as it does challenges. In fact, problems and misfortune are often a great gift. They remind us that nothing is ever really sure, and we possess everything we need to forge meaning and develop ourselves in even the most difficult circumstances.

Since the dawn of time, when life presents challenges, we’ve gathered to employ our ability to reason to create and execute a plan to overcome obstacles. Whether the problem is surviving today to try again tomorrow or deciding which brand of jam to serve at tea, the best way forward is to congregate, consider, and compass a way through.

The gift of adversity is reminding us of what it really means to be human and how little we need to be truly happy.

The way out of any difficulty is moving through it together.

What challenging circumstance do you face today? Who can you convene? What better way can you conceive of? How will you create the possibility you wish to step into?

This is an excerpt from Onward: Where Certainty Ends Possibility Begins.The audio comes from the audiobook edition available on Audible.


Scott Perry, Chief Difference-Maker at C reative on Purpose

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