Have you ever noticed that adversity is often a good thing when spoken about in the past tense? I wrote a story a long time ago about how I got in way over my head exploring a cave in Austin. Being stuck in that cave was probably the hardest thing I ever had to do. When we reached the end of the cave after eight hours, our muscles were failing, we were out of water and food, and could barely move. And we had another eight hours to get back out. I assumed I’d make it back out– I just couldn’t imagine how.
From the bowels of the earth, it didn’t feel glorious. I was in pain and mentally and physically exhausted. I didn’t want to be there and would have done anything to magically be whisked back to the surface. But as soon as I got out, I was very glad that I had done it. Not just glad to be out, but glad that I was there in the first place, and glad that it was difficult. Triumph over adversity is intrinsically appealing. Without adversity, triumph doesn’t really exist.
When you look at it critically, adversity is actually a good thing to have. It’s a method to bring out your best. At the end of that cave, I remember thinking that I didn’t have the strength to make it back to the mouth of the cave. But I did have that strength. Adversity gave me no choice but to find it. Even today, nearly ten years later, I draw upon that memory to remind myself that I’m capable of pushing myself farther than I know.
Things happen in our lives that we recognize as being good. When that happens, nothing is required on our part to benefit. Something happened, it was good, end of story. Bad things are different, though. A bad thing happens, and then it’s up to us. We can use that adversity as an opportunity for triumph, or we can be passive and allow ourselves to be run over by it.
Like everything, response to adversity is a habit. Some people are instantly defeated, but others have trained themselves to meet adversity head on. That doesn’t guarantee triumph, of course, but it makes it a possibility. And while good things that happen are nice, the best things in life are those that began with adversity. If you don’t have the habit of working with adversity, then you’ll never have those great experiences.
After years of embracing adversity and using it as a springboard for triumph, you gain a strange appreciation for it. You aren’t attracted enough to it to invite self-sabotage, but you welcome it when it comes. Tomorrow I’m heading to Peru for a week. My planning for the trip has been flat-out bad, and I’ve put myself in a tough situation. I have three and a half days to do a five day hike through the mountains, and don’t have the standard two days to adjust to the high altitude. Ninety nine percent of people who do this trek have porters (an average of 1.4 porters per trekker, I read), and those who don’t probably have some sort of relevant experience. I have neither.
On top of all that, when I finish the trek I have to catch a train, then a bus, and then two flights, all with very short intervals between them. In years past I might have found this whole situation stressful, but now I look forward to it. It’s a nice opportunity to push myself and dig out some triumph.
So next time some adversity crosses your path, remember that it can deflate you or it can be an opportunity. The gap between the two outcomes can seem large, but bridging it starts with the decision to use adversity as an opportunity.
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Photo is the view from the top of a mountain in Sinaia, Romania.
I wrote this a while ago– the story of the Peru trek is here, and unfortunately it didn’t exactly end in triumph.
By the way– if you don’t follow me on Twitter yet, my twitter is @tynan.
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