A Few Thoughts On Adversity

                                   "It's About Patience and Practice"

Twelve months have past since I had reconstructive surgery on my right knee. It has been a year filled with triumph, tragedy, success, and failure, but above all it has been a year of growth. It has been a year that I have grown physically, mentally, and spiritually. One quote I have often been reminded of is "adversity introduces a man to himself." Now when I say adversity it would be easy to think of only monumental challenges or obstacles. But the truth--and what you probably don't want to hear--is that we are faced with adversity in some form every single day. Be it a party where there is pressure to do something that you may later regret, or be it a test that you haven't prepared for--adversity--remains the constant. And in that way, we are being further introduced to ourselves every single day.

As this introduction continues, and you begin to learn more about yourself a picture will begin to form. At this point you have two options: you can accept the picture or not. You can accept all of the negatives in your life and blame them for your failures  (victim's mentality) or you can get rid of those negatives, raise your standards (Lion's mentality), and alter, or at more specifically hone, the picture for good. I can personally attest to the difficulty of the second option, but--as with most things--the sacrifice, commitment, and resolve it takes makes it worth it. Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, and every other great artist/sculptor didn't just create a work and have people marvel at it. The spectacles they created took years of revision and reworking--they spent countless hours perfecting the little things, and while they assuredly made many mistakes throughout its construction, their end results spoke for themselves. Take a lesson from the artists of our past. The construction of a successful you, and one that you will be proud of, will involve conscious thought as well. Don't let the allures of mediocrity and the "easy" choice fool you, for there is nothing easy about success--it's the exact reason why so few attain it.

Thanks for reading. JG