WHAT ADVERSITY TEACHES US
Adversity
A UNIVERSITY CALLED ADVERSITY
Experience is a great teacher; but the lessons are taught in that great university called adversity. Does it sound far fetched? Just ponder what it teaches you.
A-DAPT - Change is the only certainty in life and nothing is permanent. Your fortune, your position, your relationship and even your life are subject to the vagaries of change. It is adversity which teaches you to adapt and survive.
D-ETERMINATION – Remember the old adage steel is tempered by fire? This is precisely what adversity inculcates in us. A steely determination to overcome and succeed the trials and tribulations of life. Want examples, just look around you; you will find unknown Helen Kellers stoically facing life.
V-ALUE - We are always dissatisfied in life; and so constantly complain about our misfortunes and what we don’t have. But it is adversity which teaches us to count our blessings. Lost your money in the stock market? Think a bit before you lament. You may have lost money, but your health and reputation may be intact. You may be ill, but your loved ones are around to support. You may have lost you job, but you still have the skill and will to find another. It is adversity which teaches us the value of what we have.
E-VALUATE – We rarely introspect in good times. It is only in adversity we look back and take stock. How did this happen? Where did we go wrong? Questions which are very helpful to chart our future plans.
R-EDEFINE - It is the above evaluation which helps in redefining our priorities. Most often we fail because we do not objectively evaluate ourselves and redefine our priorities.
S-TRIVE – Recall the lines ‘to strive, to seek and not to yield’? This is precisely what adversity teaches us. Never give up, because success may be just round the corner, hiding there to pounce on us and catch us by surprise. All successful people are those who did not fail to strive.
I-NFLUENCE – Adversity influences our attitude. It changes us intellectually and sometime even spiritually. We learn to look at things differently and dispassionately. Only a prisoner or hostage knows the value of freedom or a slave the dignity of liberty.
T-EACH – We don’t learn from our success but only from our mistakes; and mistakes abound only in adversity. Lessons which are tough and taught by a harsh taskmaster
Y-EARNING- There is a popular inspirational quote which says’ When things get tough, the tough get going’. What keeps them going is the million dollar question? They are people fired by their yearning to reach the goal, a steady fire which should be assiduously maintained at all odds.
Can there be a better University than Adversity?
