5 reasons adversity can benefit your life

5 Reasons Why Adversity Can Benefit Your Life

Adversity is defined by Dictionary.com as “a condition marked by misfortune, calamity or distress.” While no one enjoys experiencing adverse circumstances, adversity can play a significant role in personal growth and development by aiding in the generation of critical skills and knowledge.

In this way, overcoming adversity can prove to be one of your greatest gifts and can put you on the path to great success. Learning to embrace it can result in several other benefits.

Check out the rest of this article and discover 5 reasons why adversity can benefit your life in a positive way…

Self-Awareness

Self-awareness is a conscious knowledge of one’s own feelings, motives and desires. Facing misfortune and calamity creates opportunities for individuals to reflect on how they feel more often, this tends to happen less in life when things are more stable and less chaotic.

There is something about adversity that generally causes people to become more in tune with how they feel, what they want, and what might be the driving force behind their actions or responses to a given situation.

It is during difficult periods that people examine what previously taken actions or decisions may have contributed to the current negative outcome or situation.

It is this process of looking deeper within ourselves during calamity that makes the practice of self reflection become more natural and habitual.

Eventually, this is something that can be implemented not just during times of adversity, but even during times of stability.

It is through the process of continual reflection and subsequent improvement and adjustment that growth can be achieved (Future of Work, 2017).

patience

Patience

Adversity plays a critical role in building patience. Typically, when we face adversity it cannot be foreseen and there is little clue to how long it will last.

Thus, going through hardships that tend to be prolonged teaches individuals how to endure during these times. We learn how to gain self-control over our emotions and responses as we wait for the adversity to pass.

The art of developing patience is important as it will help navigate hardships that may arise in the future (Hurd, 2019).

Resilience

Resilience demonstrates how well we are able to recover from the challenges and hardships that we face in life. As it turns out, facing and overcoming adversity helps to build resilience.

A study of approximately 2000 people monitored mental health and general well-being for a period of several years.

Participants were monitored via online surveys and were asked to list troubling events such as divorce, bereavement, or natural disasters that occurred before the survey began. They also reported on adverse events that happened during the survey period.

The results of the study showed that those who had previously endured hardships and became more resilient were happier afterwards.

Psychologist Roxane Cohen Silver, Ph.D. from the University of California Irvine noted that individuals who were challenged by life were given the opportunity to learn how to overcome adversity, which allowed them to develop coping strategies, identify support networks and build the confidence needed to persevere (WebMD, 2011).

relationships

Relationships

During times of adversity, people often realise they need the support and assistance of others in order to make it through those tough times.

While adversity can certainly put a strain on many relationships, people often find that adversity creates a foundation for relationships to be strengthened too.

When things are not going well, people typically have to come together to pool ideas, resources, strength, etc as a means of helping them overcome the obstacle.

This process forces people to communicate, be vulnerable, be transparent and offer support for others in a way that ultimately enhances the nature and strength of the overall relationship (Future of Work, 2017).

knowledge

Knowledge

Facing challenges and adversity provides the chance for individuals to gain information and skills. When faced with hardship we often have to problem-solve as a means of overcoming adversity.

This means doing the work of identifying the problem(s), consulting the resources, analyse possible solutions, and select and implement options.

This process not only helps people learn to address the issue at hand, but it also helps with the development of skills that can be applied to future situations such as problem-solving skills, analytical skills, research skills, and others (Hurd, 2019).

Adversity is a gift because it helps us to challenge and extend ourselves beyond the limits we normally set.

It is through adversity that we are able to develop the self-awareness, patience, resilience, knowledge and strong relationships needed to help us to continue to navigate life successfully.

References:

4 reasons to embrace adversity. (2017, June 21). Future Of Work. https://fowmedia.com/4-reasons-embrace-adversity/

Emotional well-being: The benefits of adversity. (2011, December 27). WebMD. https://www.webmd.com/balance/features/emotional-wellbeing-benefits-of-adversity

Hurd, S., & A.A. (2019, March 9). Why facing adversity in life can be good for you and how to get through hardships. Learning Mind. https://www.learning-mind.com/facing-adversity-in-life/comment-page-1/

 

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