Struggle: A True Teacher
Not all struggles are bad, most of them unveil the true you!
Isn’t that the truth of life! Not in an obscure sort of way, but in very tangible ways do struggles help us find ourselves. Until thrown into an adverse situation, we might not know our strength, integrity, resilience, and values. Nevertheless, it all lies in the perspective. One can assume a self-pitying attitude or resign to their fate.
The essence of the lessons struggles offer only expands and flourishes in the mind of an action-oriented person, who has a growth mindset.
Imagine if you got whatever you wanted whenever you wished for it. How would you feel if you face no challenges, or do not have to work for anything? If you did not know the pain, how would you know ways to tolerate or manage it or even the value of it? If you had money available to you at all times, how will you call it your own? If you did not face struggles in your relationships, how will they grow?
Like it or not, struggles are our true friends. They help us develop scores of skills and self-preserving attitudes that we did not imagine having.
Here is a small incident that embodies the function of struggle – It was when my firstborn had just started crawling and exploring the house on her own. I kept a keen watch on her but liked her inquisitive probes into different corners of the house. It was helpful that I was a stay-at-home mom during the first two years of her life. One day, while I was having my mid-morning tea and watching over her, I saw her go under one of the side tables. With her increasing mobility, she wanted to see if she could stand up (she had started standing up with support by that time). The table height was not enough to allow her space. She whimpered and looked towards me. My natural urge was to help her out, pick her up, and make it easy for her. Instead, I waited, watched, and cooed at her some encouraging words. She eventually squirmed her way out. Quickly, she learned the skill to get in and get out. It became her favorite game. Sometimes she even did it to coax out loving words from me. For an eight-month-old, that was a huge accomplishment and so was the struggle. Not to mention the lesson that she learned from it.
I have had my share of struggles, and not for a moment, do I begrudge them. I feel that I am a stronger person due to them. I am confident that I have earned an opportunity to advocate the value of struggles to Aware-ly readers.
How Struggles Help Us
- Struggles make us resilient
- Struggles open our minds and hearts to new experiences as they help us cross over the fear of trying
- Struggles makes us empathetic and compassionate human beings
- Struggles make us conscientious of our work as we learn from past errors
- When we cope over struggles, we become more optimistic to crush the next one
- People who have struggled through life have a higher confidence level as they surpass the circumstance to reach success
- Struggles make us firm and realistic in our goal settings
- If struggles empower us, they also have the ability to tell us our limits
- Those who do not give up during a struggle become people with a great will power
If there is the best lesson any struggle can give us, it is this – struggles give us the power of overcoming them.
How to Get Through Struggles
- Try to see the value of struggle you are going through
- Find a moment to reflect on your role through journaling, meditation or whatever works for you
- Don’t forget to laugh
- Embrace it
- Share it with a confidant
- Get help if you need it
- Break out of the box to find creative solutions
- Always think from the point of resolution not suffering
- Look back and find what worked for you at a different time of struggle
- Remember, every problem comes with a solution
I want to leave you with a link that had enlisted a number of quotes from successful people who know very well about the value of struggles in life.
https://kidadl.com/articles/struggle-quotes-and-sayings-for-when-life-gets-tough
