Finding Life Lessons In Pain: Understanding Misfortune As A Blessing In Disguise.
Have you ever felt like you were at your lowest point in life? Some of you may have experienced moments of despair. You feel so hopeless, desperate, discouraged, and slowly you start losing yourself. Even when you keep trying to make things right, everything still goes wrong. At that moment of desperation, life can seem so unfair to you because of this misfortune.
However, I have a different perspective based on what I’ve experienced. What if this misfortune is a trigger to make you a better person? Or perhaps it is preparing you for the life purpose that has been waiting in the future? Maybe it’s just a blessing in disguise you cannot see yet.
This article will explain how to perceive misfortune not as a negative experienced, but as an opportunity that can transform your personal development.
Misfortune As A Gift
It’s a natural response to feel hopeless, desperate, and discouraged when you face misfortune in life. Nothing wrong with that because I have been there too. Even I blamed other people for what had happened in my life back then. But, after lot of difficult times, I began to understand. If you really take a moment and look closely, there is an invaluable lesson to be learned.
In difficult times, try to think of them as a teachers that guide you toward opportunity. Step by step they guide you to become stronger, better, and more resilience. It may sound counterintuitive from what you feel, but having misfortune can be one of the greatest gift that life has to offer.
The Power Of Resilience
Overcoming difficult times and challenges in life requires a mindset called “resilience”. So, what is resilience? In psychology, it’s a quality of a person or ability to bounce back from hardship, trauma, or failure. Rather than let these sources of stress become an obstacles, people with great resilience can find strength to heal emotionally and move forward.
One of my favorite entrepreneur Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia mention about resilience. In an interview, he said that resilience is more important than what we think to achieve success in life. There is statement that I really like: he said..
“People with very high expectations have very low resilience?—?and, unfortunately, resilience matters in success.”
He continued explained,
“Greatness comes from character, and character isn’t formed out of smart people. It’s formed out of people who suffered.”
The point is, resilience can only be learned through hard times and take the lesson. Every difficult time will help you build your character. In my opinion, resilience cannot be taught directly. The people with great character I have met in my life, most of them have grow from difficult times.
If It’s Possible, Would You Go Back In Time And Change Things?
Despite misfortune that has happened, you may be unsatisfied with the decision you’ve made in the past. They haunt you and leave you with regret until today. So, how If I asked you this question,
“If you were given a chance to travel back in time, would you change anything?”.
I often ask this question to people around me, and most of them said “YES”. Those who said yes often have regrets or missed some opportunities in the past. That’s why they try to change things, hoping that life will take them to a different path and lead them to different conditions from what they are now.
However, I have to disagree with those people. Even if I had that kind of opportunity, I would keep choosing the same choices and living the same life. Why? Because every decision, whether it’s good or bad, has contributed to my life’s journey. All that I have been through has truly helped me shape who I am today! Learn to let go of the past by accepting the choices you made, because it does help you to appreciate the present moment and look forward to the future.
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Try To Connect The Dots
What you have been through may still look like a random puzzle. It seems disconnected from one to another. Even though you can’t see the big picture yet, when you see it in broader view, it all starts to make sense. There’s one of Steve Job’s speeches that really inspired me. He famously said,
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backward”.
As an entrepreneur, I slowly understood what he meant after many failures that I’ve experienced during my business career. Back then, as a starter I didn’t know where and what I was good at. I just jumped in. Guess what? It didn’t go very well. From losing lot of money, being stuck in debt, and being scammed by business partners. Even there was a moment when I see myself as a failure. But as I reflected, I found my potential by connecting the mistakes I made, taking lessons, and learning from them. If I didn’t see it backward, I am sure I would never have understood my potential.
Hard times may appear as a negative experience in the short term, but in the long run, you will start to see it as a positive outcome. Try to have trust in every process, because someday you will start to see it clearly. At this moment, if you see your life as a failure, try to look back and start connecting the dots. You might find what and where you are good at. Everything has a purpose, even in the very desperate moments.
A Blessing In Disguise
Many successful people I have met have found potential in their desperate moments. Mentally strong people always have great resilience. These kinds of people are game changers who can even turn despair into hope. They didn’t see hard times and misfortune as a negative experienced, but as life lessons they had to overcome. By overcoming hard times, we become more mentally strong, compassionate, and resilient than before.
I know it might feel tempting to avoid hard times, but instead, try to face them. But remember, you can only truly grow if you can overcome challenges, not run from them. So, next time you face hard times, I hope you can see them not as misfortune, but as a blessing in disguise. Use them as an opportunity to learn, grow, and become the best version of yourself.
Conclusion
Facing misfortune in life can be challenging and leave you feeling lost. It’s important to remember that these experiences are stepping stones on a journey to meet the best version of yourself. By developing resilience, learning from mistakes, and taking lessons, you can turn these negative experiences into opportunities. Remember, every challenge, every obstacle, every failure will teach you something valuable. Find strength and start to discover your true potential.
Thanks For Reading!
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Sources:
Training Specialist at Confidential
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