Cheer Up! Adversities Have Advantages

Regardless of what difficulties you may be going through right now- setbacks, crisis, mistakes, tragedies, pressures, temptations, disappointments, or failed expectations, friend, you need not despair for those seemingly negative occurrences have inherent benefits. By walking in this understanding, it becomes possible to handle them successfully, turning them into opportunities in the process. Today, I will be sharing with you six benefits  inherent in adversities to help you through life's difficulties.

1. Adversities offer tremendous opportunity to learn valuable lessons. Some of the greatest lessons you will learn in life will come during your periods of difficulties. Therefore difficult times are learning times. When you fail, make mistakes or encounter setbacks among others, you are being presented with a golden opportunity to learn important lessons from those experiences which will undoubtedly prove valuable to you later in life and to others with whom you share them. This is why it is important that when you lose, you shouldn't lose the lesson. 

2. Adversities prepare you for greater challenges and responsibilities. Difficult times are training times. The good news is, the difficulties that do not break you will make you. Tough times toughen people for tougher times. Charles Spurgeon rightly said,  "Some men owe the very grandeur of their lives to the tremendous difficulties they've had to overcome." The values, virtues, insight, experience, dexterity, strength of character to help you handle high-caliber responsibilities and to help others onto greater heights are acquired and developed in periods of adversities. 

3. Adversities are a test of personal character, competence and convictions. You may never realize how truly strong or weak you are until you come under pressure to act contrary to your value-system. Adversities are beneficial in that they help you discover who you really are, your strength of conviction and your capacity to handle crisis. Your strengths, weaknesses and vulnerabilities are revealed in periods of difficulties. In essence, they help you discover areas of your life you need to work on. Therefore difficult times are discovery times.   

4. Nothing offers a unique opportunity to test the worth of relationships as adversities. The value of the relationships you keep will be revealed in your periods of difficulties, not necessarily when things are rosy. As the saying goes, "In prosperity our friends know us, in adversity we know our friends." Usually, you know how valuable, loyal, faithful, trustworthy, dependable or committed the people you relate with are- spouse, friend, mentor, leader, protege when the going gets tough for you. Difficult times are testing times.

5. Adversities offer opportunities for a fresh and better start. They offer you you a chance to begin again, approach issues more intelligently or explore new grounds. There are successful entrepreneurs today who would never have considered setting up their own business had they not lost their paid job. Failing an exam, encountering tragedy in business, ending a cherished relationship all present you with a chance to explore new possibilities. In essence, adversities offer opportunities for new, second, third and subsequent beginnings. Helen Keller said, "I thank God for my handicaps, for through them, I have found myself, my work and my God." Difficult times are decision-making times.

6. Oftentimes, adversities constitute proof of motion. In life, the top is meant for the tough and it is those who dare that get their share. Yet, those who dare will encounter oppositions. It is virtually impossible to pass through life, achieve significant success or maximize destinies without encountering appreciable difficulties.I once heard someone say, "A road without obstacle does not usually lead to a significant place." No matter how sincere or well-intentioned you are, things will not always go the way you expect. You really do not need to remain discouraged. If anything, the difficulties you encounter in the pursuit of your dreams constitute proof that you are at least making some efforts towards achieving your goals. Therefore for you who are heading for a colourful destination, I encourage you to see difficult times as normal times.