Is Challenge Essential For Our Survival?

The Buddha said “Life is suffering” and he might be right.

2020 was the best year of my life. I can see you screwing your face up and saying, “huh?”. Yes, 2020 was a horrible year in many respects, I will not deny that. Hundreds of thousands of people died from COVID-19, businesses were ruined and the economically deprived becoming even poorer. Economies crashed around the world.

This was all going on in the outside world. It was on the tv. Social media feeds were dominated by political agendas from all points of view.

This was a novel situation. Life was stripped back to its modern-day essentials. Food, exercise and sleep. I was grateful to have been with family during this period. If I was living by myself I can only imagine how difficult it would have been.

It was hard not to get caught up in the moment and be overcome with feelings of dread and anxiety at the global situation. I must admit, at the onset of lockdowns I found myself checking daily case and hospital numbers. I was beginning to be consumed.

I made a choice at that point. I had a Masters project to finish. I had a family that I was going to be spending the next 16 weeks with. I had to keep myself active with home workouts. I accepted the suffering that I and everyone else was going through. I chose to change my perspective.

There is no good or bad without us, there is only perception. There is the event itself and the story we tell ourselves about what it means. - Ryan Holiday

Perspective is about how we choose to react to events and relates directly to our conscious experience. Responding rapidly without thought may not always be the answer, especially to difficult problems or news. We may behave irrationally and do something we will later regret. Taking the time to consider our next move will aid in thinking about the direction we are going and would like to head.

We may have to temporarily suffer will the feelings we experience during tumultuous times. Opening our minds to the thought of positive outcomes and remaining focused is critical. A single drop of positivity is better than none.

Japanese characters often take Chinese characters into their words. One such example is 危機 (“Kiki”). Together the symbols mean crisis. When taken individually, this changes. The first character (危) means “in danger”, according to Google Translate. The second character (機) can be translated to mean “opportunity”. In every danger or challenge, we have an opportunity.

The first time I read this I was finally able to articulate a principle I had long held. I relished challenges not only for the satisfaction of completing them but for the growth that came with them. It gives me the confidence to pursue opportunities that would have previously been out of my reach.

Many businesses at the onset of the pandemic were forced to close for an unknown period of time. This was a crisis for the livelihood of entrepreneurs and business owners. Instead, they found ways to surpass the obstacles in front of them.

I watched as business plans and models drastically changed with admiration. It is always hard to go against the grain and step into the unknown. From Ryan Holiday’s book, The Obstacle is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Adversity to Advantage:

“The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”

We can take solace in the fact that by taking action to overcome what stands in front of us we can create a better future for ourselves. It may not be easy however it will be worth it in overcoming the obstacle in front of you. Your subjective experiences become your competitive advantage.

Anyone who has competed in sport will know the struggles faced in the lead up to game day. Your preparation probably started weeks or months beforehand. You may have had training sessions that weren’t good and left you questioning whether it is worth it?

What do you do? You choose the short-term discomfort in favour of delayed gratification for when the event comes. We choose to suffer intermittently as we know it is the path to achieving our goals and desired outcomes.

The same can be said for studying for exams and tests. Hours and hours reading books and practising example problems is not pretty however it challenges and prepares us for the final.

Suffering is an integral part of life. It has evolved from scavenging the savannah to find the next meal to grafting for a large proportion of our day so we can live more freely in the future. We will inevitably face challenges allowing the way. Life is indeed suffering. How we respond to such situations is the defining factor in achieving our goals.

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