Test Yourself
We all go through some hard times. They can last days, months or years. After this period of time you reflect back and you’re grateful for it. Or you walked away with a lesson learned. Better yet, you walked away just in time to avoid something bad; jail time, marrying the wrong person, signing the wrong client or buying that crappy house.
You should be proud of what you’ve been through. It shapes who you are and influences how you handle things going forward. That is considering of course, that you have grown from those hard times. As some of you don’t grow and run straight to panic when things get hard.
When times are hard those are badges you get to wear. And you’ve earned the right to say expressions as, “it was the best thing that could have happened,” and “I wouldn’t change it at all.”
But remember you survived! And so it is important to put yourself to the test. Seneca says,
“I judge you unfortunate because you have never lived through misfortune. You have passed through life without an opponent—no one can ever know what you are capable of, not even you.” - Seneca, On Providence, 4.3
Another quote and much more powerful,
“To those human beings who are of any concern to me I wish suffering, desolation, sickness, ill-treatment, indignities—I wish that they should not remain unfamiliar with profound self-contempt, the torture of self-mistrust, the wretchedness of the vanquished: I have no pity for them, because I wish them the only thing that can prove today whether one is worth anything or not—that one endures.”- Friedrich Nietzsche, The Will to Power
And you thought tests were over once you left school. The real test is here, now, in the real world. Lifting weights creates tension in your body to build muscle. Trials, tribulations, hard times, pain and suffering is tension for the brain. They make you stronger. Mentally you become capable and prepared for the next misfortune. They give you a level of resilience that allows you to go through anything, at any moment. Because each obstacle is a new test. And you’ve passed so many tests already, what’s one more? Life is exactly this.
How do you get through this present hard time? The with the same tools and the same way you got through the last one. Because you’ve taken a test like this before. Because you have the proof, you have evidence, that you can and you will. Put yourself to the test. Afterall, life without an opponent is a way to never know what you’re truly made of.
What are your thoughts on this blog? Comment below…
Thought Provoking Questions : What are you made of? Are you running away from the pain or are you staring it in the face ready to take the next step?
Daily I write and release a daily meditation. A quick read. Sharing wisdom and asking thought-provoking questions. Influenced by the obstacles, success and failures in my life and of others. Using history, books, current events, philosophy, and ancient wisdom. These writings are actionable, thought-provoking, designed to make your life better.
These writings are not to push a way of thinking on the reader or to force you into a certain philosophy or methodology. Rather to give you practical and real ways to handle life. This is an added tool. My writing is simply a discussion, a discourse, with all the material I read, watch, hear and consume.