Let’s face it, making mistakes and overcoming adversity can feel horrible at times, especially if the mistake is of large scale. Because of this, we are often too afraid to make that first step forward. The fear can hold us back and prevent us from making the so-needed changes in life.
But what if you knew that you couldn’t fail? What if you could see adversity from a different angle? How would you act then? Would the fear of doing something wrong still have such an impact on you?
Below, I will try to do my best to convince you that making mistakes and experiencing adversity isn’t all that bad. On the contrary, it even has benefits. Here are the five reason why I am ok with making mistakes, and why you should be, too.
1. Adversity is inevitable
Probably the main reason why I am ok with makings mistakes and overcoming adversity is because I know that it is inevitable. If you make the decision to grow by taking on new challenges, you will face difficulties, whether you want it or not.
Before starting an online business, I was certain that you can get from point A to point B without really getting anything major wrong. Well, as it turns out, you can get there without making mistakes, as long as your point B isn’t a lot more complicated than taking the trash out. But if your ambitions are high, then be sure to prepare yourself for some tough times. And I don’t say this to scare you.
Also, it’s important to point out there are many different levels of adversity. If you are totally unprepared and don’t know what the heck you are doing, then you will be making mistakes on every step of the process. But if you take it slowly and aim well, problems will occur rarely and will have a lighter effect on you.
Recommended: 50 Best Self-Help Books That Will Change Your Life Forever
Unfortunately, too many mistakes can completely kill your motivation and get you discouraged. So while you should be prepared to make some, you need to do your best in order not to make those that could have easily been avoided, had you spent more time learning. In the case of starting a business, I found a mentor to teach me what I needed to know.
2. Mistakes are a sign of progress
The second reason why I am ok with making mistakes and overcoming adversity is because I know that if I am making mistakes, I am also making progress.
Above I mentioned that before starting a business, I was convinced that I can do it without having any major setbacks. Obviously, I was wrong. The reason for my so shallow thinking was the lack of challenges in my life prior to that venture. Getting through university was probably my biggest challenge up to that point, but even there I knew my curriculum and had a personal advisor to get support from. So other than doing poorly on an exam, there wasn’t much adversity involved.
Because today things tend to get a lot more complicated in my life, the errors that I occasionally make can also be quite damaging, mentally and even financially. However, when these problems do occur and I am able to overcome them, I gain an incredible amount of new knowledge. I become mentally tougher, more experienced and, to my surprise, wiser. In other words, I know that I am taking massive action and moving forward in life.
And you don’t have to use the business case if you can’t relate. For example, some time ago I started doing Thai boxing. At first, I couldn’t even throw a kick. Making mistakes was pretty much the only thing I did during training. Now as I keep training, I get better with the basics and make fewer mistakes. But as soon as a new exercise is introduced, I once again have to spend time learning it.
Unlike with business, the mistake/outcome response time in boxing is super short. Instead of waiting for a month to experience adversity, I can forget to block my face, and as a result, get instantly punched in it.
Yes, sometimes it’s hard to deal with the fact that the opponent is much better than me, and the punches can also hurt physically, but I learn from it. On the next training, I am sure to remember to hold my hands high up to protect my jaw and nose. The mistake I made forced me to improve my skills.
So as you can see, challenges can come from different areas of life, but all of them help us grow in one way or another.
3. Everything passes
Everything in life passes, including the tough times. This knowledge is the third reason why I am ok with making mistakes and overcoming adversity.
Being at a very low point in life may sometimes feel like it’s the end of the world, like we may never recover from it, but this is not true.
Recommended: 10 Ways to Develop an Attitude of Gratitude and to Be Happier
How we experience the lows and the highs is all up to us. Of course, we feel happy when everything is going well, just like we feel bad or even miserable when things aren’t going so well. But try to see the problem beyond what is normally visible. Look at the bigger picture.
Feeling negative is a normal human reaction when mistakes are made. We all do this. But your goal, as someone that is striving to become more, is to keep on working through the problems until either you solve them or father time takes over and helps you forget about them.
Everything in life passes, including the crap that you sometimes have to face. Know this and remind yourself of this. It will help you smile when you are having a hard time getting through it on your own.
And as already mentioned previously, if you haven’t given up and you got back up on your feet, you will come out as a stronger person. This is what separates successful people from the rest.
P.S. If you are constantly anxious and worry about everything, and don’t know how to stop it, then I highly recommend this book: How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. It has helped me tremendously.
4. I have a vision
Why are you doing the things that you are doing? Whenever I face adversity and begin to feel discouraged, I always remind myself why I started doing that thing in the first place. I always come back to my vision.
Having a vision means having a why attached to your challenges. For example, I want to help people and animals, and that pushes me to work harder on my goals and projects. It helps me overcome adversity and the challenges.
Having that why will save you in the toughest of times. It will make you stronger and move you forward when little hope is left. Without that why, that vision, it will be very challenging to push through.
Click To TweetWhere there’s a will, there’s a way.”
5. Life is just a game
The last but not least reason why I am ok with making mistakes and overcoming adversity concerns life as a whole.
I try not to take life too seriously. I understand that at the end of the day, we should be able to enjoy it, not hate it. If something is too difficult or I see that I don’t want to do it anymore, I can always stop. I can stop it for a while to have a break, or I can stop it altogether if I feel that it is the only logical way out.
Recommended: Why Meditation Is So Life Changing: 6 Reasons to Meditate Every Day
Understanding that life is just a game has helped me in so many ways to keep myself in balance. I understand that nothing is certain in this life, which is why I try to be positive and optimistic about things as much as possible. I try to see the good in everything and to enjoy myself as much as I can, even when I make those so dreaded mistakes.
I am certain that it is all about making positive connections, helping others and being able to live each day with purpose, which is why most of the adversity that I face doesn’t have too much control over me, at least not like it used to.
Hopefully, you’ve found this post on overcoming adversity useful and feel less stressed about the difficulties that you may be currently going through. Don’t worry, they’ll pass.
Thank you for stopping by and good luck!
Please click below to subscribe and to follow us on social media:
Click here to follow us via E-mail!
Click here to follow us on Facebook!
Click here to follow us on YouTube!
Click here to follow us on Instagram!
Click here to follow us on Twitter!
Leave a Reply