Don't Run Away From Adversity. Own It.

It’s easy to run from adversity.

But what if you can’t? What if it follows you wherever you go, and is already there when you wake up in the morning? What then?

I know this all too well because I used to race away from my own challenges, terrified of facing them head on. And yet they never stopped coming for me. Eventually I realized that running was not a solution and so one day, I turned around and faced them instead. Now they don't bother me anymore: They just pass by like strangers on the street outside my house. Because now I have owned my adversities rather than letting them rule over me.

They may have blinked into my life and shaken it in ways that no hurricane or earthquake has ever been able to. They made me doubt my worth, they turned my world upside down, they crumbled the walls I had built around myself and broke me down to a carbon copy of who I was when I first came into this world... but even all of these things were not enough to get rid of them completely. However, what has always been enough is my will to learn from them and be better because of them - without running away from them.

Don’t run away from adversities: Own them instead.

It might feel like you’re pinned against a wall with no way out at first, but that’s just because you can’t see the door yet. It might be out of your sight, but it is there nonetheless.

You will find it eventually - even if it may take a very long time to do so. But patience is not something you need when facing down adversity or overcoming its consequences. You have all the time in the world after the fact, unable to change what has happened already, and letting go of how things would be different if everyone had made better choices; once you learn from them and move on instead of sulking over them, they become life-changing experiences rather than traps that prevented you from growing up like other people did around you..

How do you grow stronger muscles? With consistent, heavy, and challenging resistance work. The same goes for adversity.

Face it head on, grow with it even when you think that there is no way to overcome the situation you’re in. There are always ways to become stronger than you were before, both mentally and physically... but they require every ounce of your focus and attention so that you don’t get distracted by how much it might hurt or be terrifying to try something new all of a sudden.

Just like in any other form of education, learning from them takes time though.

It won’t do anything without the desire to learn - not tomorrow or in one year, but eventually… yes, eventually… when suddenly everything becomes clear and easy once again.

Give yourself time.

And patience.

Lots and lots of patience. Until it does become easy again, not to distract yourself from the process but to enjoy it… until eventually you can walk through a sea of adversity without flinching once because you have been there before and know exactly what's coming your way. You’re ready for whatever comes after that, no matter how frightening it may be, because you will try to make different choices this time around should it ever come back around... And should you fail at making even one single change in your character or attitude that prevents adversity from entering your life in the same way or form then perhaps you need to give yourself another chance within a year or two. It has taken me almost half a decade to truly learn how to tackle adversity instead of running away from it.

But now, no matter how hard things may get… I know that this is not the end.

This time around, I'm prepared for anything that comes my way. And I am more than willing to see where this new path leads me, even if it doesn't seem like a choice made by me at all... Even though it might be all too easy to convince myself that everything happens for a reason - which is what we’re all inclined to believe when faced with an existential crisis consisting of life-altering decisions and consequences - after all these years of trying different paths and settings, perhaps there really is no other option forward... So why am I still here?

Don’t run away from adversity.

Own it instead.

You’ll be thankful you did... not tomorrow, but eventually.

So what are you waiting for?

Are you ready to turn your life around and create the future that you only dreamt of so far? Or do you want to keep running until there is nowhere left to go… until it finally catches up with you and drags you down into the mud with it - without any chance of ever crawling out again? The choice is yours alone. Don't let yourself be fooled by anyone else who tries to convince you that they know what's best for you, they don't even know half as much as they like to believe they do.

It's your life and it always has been, from day one until the very last breath you take in this world.