Championship Mindset Series: Welcome Adversity

Tell me you’ve heard this one before:

“You have to be comfortable being uncomfortable.”

What a cliché… but it’s true. Improvement in anything requires doing things you’re not used to, and anything we’re not used to is always going to be uncomfortable. It is our body’s natural tendency to avoid, resist, and refuse doing things that are comfortable. It does this because the body’s job is to maintain homeostasis, meaning maintaining it’s current state. If your current state isn’t good enough for you, then the only answer is to break homeostasis and build a new one. But why is welcoming this adversity so important? Here’s why:

Welcoming Adversity

A man is walking up a mountain. His goal is to get to the top. He knows that it’s going to be hard. As he walks up the mountain, every now and then doubt creeps in. He stops, thinks about how much farther there is to go, then turns around and walks a little down to where he started. On his way down he feels the anguish of defeat, recommits himself to his goal, and turns around to walk back up the mountain. He does this several times before finally reaching the top.

How long did it take this man to climb up the mountain?

How long would it have taken him to climb it if he had not turned back so many times?

How much harder did he make the climb by allowing himself to shy away from adversity rather than welcome it and face it head on?

The moral of the story is this: no matter how difficult things get, you CANNOT let your guard down and allow your commitments to falter.

Facing Doubt

Doubt is a natural protection mechanism to help you stay safe and maintain the status quo. It is normal for you to feel doubt and even for you to turn your back on your goals several times. But…the important part and the most helpful thing you can do for yourself is to keep turning back up the mountain and moving forwards toward your goal one step at a time.

It is so much easier to welcome adversity than to shy away from it. Is “easy” a loose term? Yes. It’s easier because you will get there faster and with less heartache. But we are human. We will fail at being strong more than once. That is part of the process.

The best thing you can do for yourself is choose to face your challenges, to put off relaxing until the job is done, and to continue moving forward one step at a time.