Struggle: the Growth Hormone
// January 1st, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Personal Development
We stumble, we trip, and we fall. We have to struggle, crawl, and claw our way forward sometimes. Thus we begin a new year. We cannot have success without failure, but that doesn’t mean the sting of failure doesn’t go away. I propose you struggle because you force yourself to grow.
Can you really be happy struggling?
Yes, I believe you can. I believe that you can feel pain but it doesn’t have to be a discomfort. Your thoughts decide if someone is going to be a discomfort. If you choose to allow yourself to succumb to the pain of struggle then you will feel discomfort. We don’t have to feel discomfort though because you can struggle without hating every moment. Think of exercising extremely hard. This is painful, but you know that it will lead to bigger muscles and a stronger body. The end result will be quite pleasurable so you endure the pain without focusing on how much it hurts. You keep thinking about the end result so you don’t experience so much discomfort.
Think if you are struggling with financial problems. You will feel pain, but you can accept that it will pass and you will be stronger due to these problems. There is pain due to the problems, but you can choose how you perceive this pain. You can succumb to the pain and allow it to hurt you more or you can accept it and embrace it. Yes there are problems but these will pass. Life Goes On.
You don’t have to associate struggling with discomfort. Allow yourself to embrace the struggle. Don’t fight against it, instead allow it to happen while looking for solutions. You have the ultimate power to determine how to react. You can make yourself uncomfortable with thoughts or you can accept it.
A Hero’s journey is only possible due to struggle
When is the last time you watched a movie with a truly great hero that doesn’t struggle? There aren’t many that have everything go well for them. It wouldn’t make a good story. There is no development! We are stuck because there is no growth without struggle. We don’t want to repeat the last year (Re-runs are boring) so we need to change, grow, struggle.
We work out to break down muscles so that they rebuild stronger. You have to struggle with some weight before the muscle can rebuild better, stronger, and faster. There are many ways we can struggle in daily life so that we develop into a stronger better self. Quit your job, drop out of school and do something you really want to do (Only if school will not benefit you, but be careful), ask many people out on a date and allow rejection to happen. Struggle with your problems, such as tackling your financial goals.
I am still trying to decide how to spend this New Year. I want to struggle, but there is still fear. I don’t want to fail. What if I am not strong enough to accomplish the task? These are the risks that have to be taken to improve. I am doomed to not improve unless I allow myself to struggle. The first step is to allow struggle to be a pleasant instead of discomfort. In the end I will come out stronger no matter if I a fail.
Here is to a new year of stumbling, struggling and clawing my way through. It may not seem nice at the time but the hindsight is 20/20.
Photo by SuperFantastic
