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Overcoming Adversity
Intro
In this report, we will be talking about adversity. Our fertile question is what are the most effective and beneficial mindsets of successful people who have been disadvantaged or set back?
Most people that are successful have not got there easily and have faced adversity throughout their life in this report we will be going over ‘what does it mean to overcome adversity, how can mindfulness and self-awareness help us overcome adversity, How can we use our past experiences of overcoming adversity to face future challenges, What is the difference between bouncing back from adversity and thriving after adversity, Why does facing adversity make us better at handling challenges, What are the long-lasting habits needed to succeed in life and What are the most effective/beneficial mindsets of successful people who have been disadvantaged or setbacks.
What does it mean to overcome adversity?
Adversity is when someone has had a hard time in their life and despite those hard times, they achieved what they wanted to by facing the problem and solving it. Bethany Hamilton, Jim Carey, Albert Einstein and David Goggins are all well-known people who have overcome adversity. These hard times could be that you are physically challenged like Bethany Hamilton who lost her arm in a shark attack at 13 years old. Adversity is not just physical health, it could be your mental health, environmental and situational factors. For example, Jim Carrey had depression, ADHD and faced homelessness, he also left school to help his family at a young age which was his mental and environmental adversities. Albert Einstein had dyslexia and didn't speak until he was 4 years old, his first words were “The soup is too hot.” which is mental adversity.
David Goggins experienced all four types of adversities. He didn't go to school because he worked for his abusive dad from the age of 6 until he moved to Brazil to start a new life. When he started school in Brazil he was bullied, didn't know how to read and was hanging out with the wrong people. He was overweight at 134 kgs before joining the navy seals at 19. During hell week in the Navy, he got stress fractures on both of his shins, a fractured knee cap and had pneumonia.
Despite the adversities David Goggins faced, he overcame all of these, lost 48 kgs in two months, got through hell week after three attempts, and went on to become an ultra-marathon runner, an author, and a veteran. In spite of their adversities Bethany Hamilton, David Goggins, Jim Carey and Albert Einstein all overcome them through life to become great athletes, top actors and famous Theoretical physicists. This makes us ask, how did their adversity help with this?
How can mindfulness and self-awareness help us overcome adversity?
Generally, people find it difficult to cope with adversity and can suffer from significant stress leading to depression and sometimes even suicide. However, just as our minds can bring us high levels of stress it can also be used to create better states and the realisation that you can still push through it.
Knowing that adversity involves something mentally or physically holding you back from reaching your particular goals, you can use mindfulness to realise that these things cannot stop you. Or through self-awareness, you can accept the current situation for what it is and then choose to move forward and get back into life.
David Goggins accepted adverse situations and then decided to accept them and work out ways he could still go forward and even beyond that. In his book, Goggins introduced a rule that is based on his experience. The rule, referred to as the 40 percent rule, states that “when your mind first tells you that you are done, that you are tired, and that you cannot go ahead and carry on, you are in fact only 40 percent done... Another example is that he was told he was too fat for the Seals and that he wouldn’t get in. He could have gone away and accepted that and sat around feeling depressed. Instead, he got off the couch and started running and used his mindset to push through any limits other people put on him.
How can we use our past experiences of overcoming adversity to face future challenges?
For this paragraph, Drake will be writing his example.
David Goggins and Jim Carrey overcome these challenges and became the best at what they are doing. What does it mean for me or you? I used some self-reflection / mindfulness etc on the adversities I have faced.
Despite my attempts at emailing Mr Goggins, he was clearly busy (which makes sense). Therefore I met with Mr Verschaffelt, a relief teacher and counsellor at TBC where I interviewed him for about an hour. I asked Mr Verschaffelt “How can we use our past experiences of overcoming adversity to face future challenges” and his response was, “That is a really good question, how about we consider how you have faced adversity? So Drake, what adversity have you overcome?” His question made me reflect on my own life on how I overcame adversity when my parents divorced. I was 8 years old when my parents divorced and I thought it was going to be the end of the world and that I will never be the same. Mr V then asked “How did I feel when it happened? What does it look like now looking back on it?” Now looking back on it I still have the same grades,the same teachers and all that and it didn't end up becoming the end of the world because I just learnt that my dad isn't going to be around me much and I thought I had to be a role model to my little brother because he didn't know what was going on at the time. I still get to see my dad from time to time. It's just not very often. I think it's part of life and it happens. If this happens again I will know how to handle it and what to do and it won't be the end of the world.
Mr V’s final question was, “How did I do it?” Well, I focused on my sport which was football and that took all my anger and confusion out and then I slowly progressed in my sport. Later on, I found out that the more physical activities I do I get better in Math, English, science and my other options. The other way to overcome this was talking to my family and then slowly talking to my friends about it or just having fun with them, and guiding my little brother on the way he deals with it by making dad jokes which gives him a little bit of a laugh.
“Yesterday is history tomorrow is a mystery today is a gift that is why it is called the present” By Master Oogway The quote shows that it you focus on today and not on the past and future you can find your slef happyer and more focused.
What is the difference between bouncing back from adversity and thriving after adversity?
Bouncing back from adversity would be accepting the problem but still finding it hard to carry on with life and then one day finding yourself depressed because of something that happened years ago. Thriving after adversity would be coming to acceptance of the problem and then getting back out there and using the challenges you overcame to give you better resilience and resolve to go forth and live your life to the full anyway. You become stronger than you were before you faced that adversity.
Why does facing adversity make us better at handling challenges?
Facing adversity makes us better at handling other challenges because you have faced adversity so whatever you're facing you have the strength to overcome it. As the people we have mentioned they have overcome their challenges and if they didn't they probably wouldn't be doing what they're doing. It all comes down to how you perceive challenges; do you see them as obstacles or opportunities? In the case of Bethany Hamilton who lost her arm, she continued despite her physical limits to become a top surfer.
People that have faced adversity are more likely to understand people better than other people because they know what they will be thinking about and how to fix it or just help them a little bit for example, David Goggins has written a book to help people. They also have more growth that comes from trauma and moving beyond it or using it to transform to become better or stronger. They have a high self-belief and know they have overcome challenges before and can do it again. They always have a positive mindset putting them in a better place than people that think negatively. As they have a positive mindset they see challenges and stress as a normal part of the journey in life like Albert Einstein who didn’t give up his theory of gravity, space etc..
What are the long-lasting habits needed to succeed in life?
You will need to be resilient, hardworking, flexible, and firm. If you want to succeed in life you will need those four strengths and more but no less than those. But having these habits does not mean you are automatically going to succeed in life. You will still need that drive and the determination to want to succeed. You also need to remember not everyone can help you ‘’life is like an elevator you have to let some people off before you get to the top’’
Resilience gives you the knowledge that when things are not going well this gives you the ability to notice the contrast - what you don’t want - so you can focus on what you do want.
What are the most effective/beneficial mindsets of successful people who have been disadvantaged or setbacks?
David Goggins had one of the most beneficial mindsets which is “YOU'RE NOT DONE WHEN YOU’RE TIRED YOU'RE DONE WHEN YOU'RE DONE” Bethany Hamilton had a great mindset that even though she had one arm she was disadvantaged and still carried on surfing. Jim Carey had great visualisation and manifestation to be better and change his life.
Conclusion
Now to sum up everything we have talked about overcoming adversity which are your hard times in life. We have answered our fertile question, “What are the beneficial/mindsets of successful people who have been disadvantaged or setbacks” and We have given evidence to back up our thesis from four famous people who have overcome adversity and tell their stories to others so it’s easy on them. Drake also provided his own life story and discussed the hardships of David Goggins where overall he uses his adversity to grow stronger.
bibliography
https://www.shortform.com/blog/david-goggins-childhood/
https://mentalflow.co/mentalhealth/2020/11/15/how-to-overcome-adversity-and-hard-times
https://vocal.media/motivation/how-to-develop-a-bulletproof-mindset
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/can_mindfulness_help_students_cope_with_failure
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