Have you ever asked yourself this question?
In my own assessment, not too many people have really pondered about our subject today.
Out of 100 souls, I might say half or fifty have; some 30 have not and the 2o are undecided or do not care at all.
The reality is that with so many issues and concerns that confront us individually – most of it is material in nature, I would hazard a guess – none of us seriously is thinking about what makes life interesting to live.
I could be wrong though. (And this makes me perfectly human.)
Because life is a journey, there are various stages (or phases) that we go through even though we are sometimes unaware of these.
We are unaware that we chase growth in relevance to success.
Growth does not come because we grow older in age nor in wisdom.
Growth is achieved after a person conquers these four stages of life: adversity, discomfort, challenge and difficulty.
It is important to possess passion if you want to grow.
Novelist Emile Zola wrote in his 11th of 20 novels in 1883 The Ladies Paradise: “I would rather die of passion than of boredom.”
Adversity is defined in the dictionary as “misfortune, trouble, misery.”
A person who overcomes adversity grows in confidence and courage. Conquering adversity is conquering the odds like in a basketball championship match where your opponent is the odds-on heavy favorite to win the title.
Your passionate desire to overturn the tide is a measure of growth as you mature in awareness and mindset. Passion helps you grow.
Discomfort is defined in the dictionary as “uneasiness; something that makes one apprehensive.”
A person suffers discomfort when he finds himself ill-at-ease in a life situation, never knowing whether to say “yes” or “no.” A person finds himself in the middle of the road, so to speak, hesitant to make a right or a left. More often, he finds himself alone in the darkness, unable to decide whether to light a candle or not.
Challenge is defined in the dictionary as “to summon to a fight or contest; to object to; to demand proof of identity; a problem that stimulates effort.”
The last one is my much-preferred definition.
A challenge is a dare. If one accepts a challenge, then he is stimulated to think and act in dispatch.
In life, everything that surrounds us is almost a dare. It stimulates everyone to accept that dare because a person does not want to be labelled a coward if he scampers away from a challenge.
Difficulty is defined as “the state of being difficult; a problem that is hard to deal with; an obstacle; a troublesome situation; a disagreement.”
Everyday a problem confronts us. This fact of life no one can even hesitantly ignore. You go to work and your boss hands you a folder with a problem to solve even before you could sip your coffee.
Adversity, discomfort and difficulty may appear to you as synonymous in meaning but they are not. There is a slight variation that separates them but just the same these three negative words can give you a headache.
Don’t these four stages of growth take the boredom out of life?
They make you a better person when you overcome them even with much effort and strain.
African-American human rights campaigner Booker T. Washington in a speech said: “Character, not circumstances, make a man.”
Is your journey through life interesting enough for you to achieve growth and then success? (Email your feedback to fredlumba@yahoo.com.) Prov. 3:7-8: “Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.”
GOD BLESS THE PHILIPPINES!
