"Most people have been trained to see adversity the wrong way."

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2013-10-08) from his book, Sometimes You Win--Sometimes You Learn:Life's Greatest Lessons Are Gained from Our Losses (p. 136). Center Street. Kindle Edition.

For the most part, the way we handle adversity comes from the way our parents handled it. The way we handle adversity is not a genetic thing but a learned thing. So that means it can be unlearned if we see adversity the wrong way.

John said that “One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned as a leader is that adversity is often the door to opportunity. Good entrepreneurs know this instinctively.” How do you see it as your enemy or your friend? Of course none of us grave it but it can be a tremendous opportunity to grow, to learn, to become stronger and to change. It is all in how we handle it.

I was with a lot of friends this week from days past. One of them was going through a very difficult time and they shared that one of the reasons why they knew they could handle it was because they saw how we handled life when we heard that Margaret had cancer. She has it under control now but it hit us hard but God showed us how to handle it without deep despair and anger.

Adversity is a part of life and it isn't bad. It is a way to teach you something. The same is true of mistakes. What about the first time you touched a hot stove. Did you do it again? What about the first time you tried to ride a bike. You probably fell but hopefully you didn’t stop trying, you figured out what you did wrong and then keep trying until you got it wright.

The key is to learn from it. In that it is your friend.

So what is your response to adversity?

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