This post is a part of Robert Hruzek’s Middle Zone Musings group writing project called “What I Learned From…”. This months’ topic is adversity, and here’s my contribution.

We are always told that adversity is something to be feared and avoided. But I disagree. I like adversity. If it wasn’t for adversity I wouldn’t be where I am today. If not for life’s hardships and misfortunes, even the small ones, things would probably be very different.

About 12 years ago, I rather suddenly made a career change. I quit my job of 7 years as a cable TV producer, weary from the stress and 90 hour weeks. I went back to school to learn about computers and multimedia. After 7 months of hard work, I was ready and eager to enter the workforce again, feeling confident in my skills, creating high-tech CD-ROMS. The only problem was, while I was busy learning Macromedia Director, the Internet was taking the world by storm. I graduated school with only 1 day of HTML coding under my belt, and quickly found out that in fact, it was web designers that employers wanted, not CD-ROM developers. Oops.

I could have given up. Some of my classmates did. I could have written a nasty letter to the college’s department head, telling them that they taught me the wrong skills. I could have gone back to the TV station and begged for my old job back.

Instead, I high tailed it down to the local bookstore and bought every book I could find on web design, HTML coding and graphic design. I spent the next 6 weeks, 8 hours a day, learning everything I could about creating and maintaining web sites. At the end of the 6 weeks I was an Internet whiz (by 1998 standards) and an expert in HTML, CSS and FTP.

No sooner did I finish my self-induced training, than I got a call from one of my former professors who didn’t teach me about the Internet in my 7 month course. She ran a technology training firm and told me they needed instructors. “To teach what?’, I asked. “Web Design”, she said.

Web design? I can do that!

I could have given up. I could have complained. I could have gone back to my old life. Instead, I looked adversity in the face and therein found the solution.

Adversity is going to happen, no matter what. That’s just life. So instead of fighting against it, or running away from it, perhaps try embracing it. You may just find the answers you’ve been seeking all along.

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“When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom, Let It Be.”
                                                                         –Paul McCartney

We are all leading busy lives, balancing work, travel, family, home life, and more. The economy is falling to pieces. Our politicians are in an uproar, throwing daggers at each other on a daily basis. Hurricanes, earthquakes, and other tragedies fill the headlines. It’s easy to become overwhelmed.

As concerned as we are about things in our daily lives, there is a point where all the worry and stres of daily life can cease to exist. That point comes in the three simple words that Paul sang so well.

Let it be. 

Hundreds of emails cram your inbox. The cell phone rings off the hook. Everyone wants a piece of you, and they all want their needs to be your number one priority at all times. Your mind is going 100 different directions at 100 miles an hour and there’s no sign it’s going to stop anytime soon. Is it possible to slow down? Yes. But how?

Let it be.

The kids are crying, your spouse is wondering why you are never home, the house is a disaster area. You haven’t talked to your parents or siblings or friends in weeks. Going home is supposed to be a respite from the craziness of work, but you feel a like a stranger in your own family right now. How do you reconnect with the people who are most important to you?

Let it be.

The economy is falling fast. Your retirement savings, your mortgage, even your bank account are all at risk of disappearing. There’s not much comfort in the news headlines either – they keep saying it’s going to get worse instead of better. How is it possible to feel secure in the face of so much insecurity? 

Let it be.

Every day the headlines tell about some other bad thing that has happened in the world. Reports talk about the scandal on the political scene, the abundance of natural disasters, and how global warming threatens our very existence. How can you sleep at night, with all this adversity around you?

Let it be.

In 10 years, 5 years, or 1 year, will any of the chaos that you percieve in your life right now matter? No. It will be a blip on the screen. You can overcome the anxiety you are living by changing your perception. By letting things be as they are. By not worrying about what is going to happen next year, tomorrow, or even in 10 minutes from now. 

All of these things that make your life seem so out of control are that way because they are out of your control! Whether you worry about it or not, clients will continue to make demands of your time. The kids will still cry. Politicians will still argue. Hurricanes will still happen. And, your friends and family will still love you. 

So, at the end of the day, isn’t it just better to simply let things be? 

Let        it          be.

UPDATE: Check out what Robert Hruzek is doing over at his blog this month, Middle Zone Musings. His theme this month is What I’ve Learned from Stress, and he’s asking people to send him links to their posts about managing stress. Check it out!!!

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