You are going to get that curve ball thrown your way – and you better be ready. It will come when you least expect it, from an unknown force and if you ignore it, it will hit you right in the face.
Adversity is something that we all have to deal with on our roller coaster of life. Let’s look at what this means. Webster defines adversity as “a state, condition, or instance of serious or continued difficulty.”
There are several things to infer from this definition. Adversity is unknown, provides a situational state, and can have a long-term impact. The question is not when adversity will hit you, but how will you react when it does. This is where some people survive and others succumb to the negative forces of the unknown.
What is the key to surviving adversity? It’s how you adjust, adapt and accommodate to uncertainty.
Let’s face one truth out there – the majority of us don’t like uncertainty. We want to have the same routine, look and feel and normalcy that keeps us at ease. Status quo is our nirvana in these situations. What I have realized is that higher states of joy are actually achieved during periods of uncertainly whereby you can practice the same state of mindfulness as when there is certainty.
This is one of the games of realizing inner peace. It’s realizing peace amidst turmoil. It’s realizing peace when things are not going your way. It’s realizing peace when things are hitting the fan – and you wanna know a little secret? Inner peace comes much faster to the boat amidst shaky waves that enters the ocean with the expectation that waters will not be calm, then when the boat is easily sailing in calm waters.
The reason why peace comes faster when expectations for uncertainty are known is that it puts our guard up to adjust, adapt and accommodate to the uncertainty that may hit anytime. When you are sailing in calm waters there is no adjusting, no adapting, no accommodating. Things are just the way you want them – status quo – you know what is coming, when it is coming, how it is coming, why it is coming and from where. There is nothing to be realized when you are fed all the information. You are not discovering anything in this case – particularly about you.
Life is about discovering new things. It about going outside the calm waters and entering stormy waves so you an force yourself to adjust, adapt and accomodate to a variety of situations. This is where you learn, this is where your mind starts to think in different ways. This is where you discover new things about yourself that you never knew.
The sad thing is that most of us haven’t even discovered half of what we are capable of doing for reasons of living an “in my zone” life.
Get out of your comfort zone! If there is something you are dying to do, just do it even it is jumping out of an airplane, traveling to a developing country, hiking a mountain, or learning to ride a motorcycle. These are things that I have discovered about myself and tried and it has given me confidence that I can do anything.
One thing to keep in mind is that failing is completely acceptable. Not being able to adjust, adapt and accommodate is completely acceptable, but only as long as you try. The truth is by taking the first step to tackle any uncertain situation, we are already adjusting, adapting and accommodating to our new situation successfully. Keep this up and you can weather any storm.