One of the greatest gifts my father gave me - unintentionally - was witnessing the courage with which he bore adversity. We had a bit of a rollercoaster life with some really challenging financial periods. He was always unshaken, completely tranquil, the same ebullient, laughing, jovial man.
“Winter does adversely affect [the roads] and our roads have been let go, so they're more and more porous. We're going to have to put more and more emphasis on permanent patch and maintenance, so I expect a great deal of roads breaking up in the spring.”
“It was scary, but my rational for not taking a timeout before that, even though my assistant coaches almost had a heart attack, was that we are in the playoffs and we need to get used to this type of adversity. I had confidence in them. They were lacking some confidence, but we worked through that wave.”
“We have a young team, and our guys faced some adversity early in the meet but turned things around and did what they had to do. Our depth took over, and we won some close races. I was really pleased with the performance coming out of winter break.”
“Many of our independent agents perceived us as lagging behind other insurance companies in technology. There is a lot of competition, especially in commercial lines, from national carriers that have bigger technology budgets than we do, which could potentially result in adverse selection by our agents.”
“Adversity is a severe instructor, set over us by one who knows us better than we do ourselves, as he loves us better too. He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper. This conflict with difficu”
“The thing that I am most proud about is the fact that this team has overcome such adversity and negativity. There we were, 10-6 and hearing all the negative talk and dealing with things we had dealt with all year, but these kids stayed together and now look at us, sectional champions.”
Remind thyself, in the darkest moments, that every failure is only a step toward success, every detection of what is false directs you toward what is true, every trial exhausts some tempting form of error, and every adversity will only hide, for a time, your path to peace and fulfillment.
What makes a hero? Courage, strength, morality, withstanding adversity? Are these the traits that truly show and create a hero? Is the light truly the source of darkness or vice versa? Is the soul a source of hope or despair? Who are these so called heroes and where do they come from? Are their origins in obscurity or in plain sight?
It's okay to be sad, but it's not okay to be ungrateful. Cultivating gratitude is the attitude that makes room for happiness; given the space for happiness to grow, gratitude has a way of surmounting the misery of disaster and adversity, and healing our soul. Take heart, the future is brighter when you look for and seek the light in it.