Adversity is Your Advantage
A short story about a cocoon.
One day a small gap appeared in the cocoon, through which the butterfly had to appear. A boy, who accidentally passed by, stopped and watched how the butterfly was trying to get out of the cocoon. It took a lot of time, the butterfly was trying very hard, and the gap was as little as before. It seemed that the power would leave the butterfly soon.
The boy decided to help the butterfly. He took a penknife and cut the cocoon. The butterfly immediately got out, but its body was weak and feeble, and the wings were barely moving.
The boy continued to watch the butterfly, thinking that now its wings would spread and it would fly. However, that did not happen.
The rest of its life the butterfly had to drag its weak body and wings that weren’t spread. It was unable to fly because the boy did not realize that an effort to enter through the narrow gap of the cocoon was necessary for the butterfly, so that the life-giving fluid would move from the body to the butterfly’s wings and then the butterfly could fly. Life forced the butterfly to leave its shell hardly so that it would become stronger and would be able to grow and develop.
If we were allowed to live without meeting difficulties, we would not be viable. Life gives us challenges to make us stronger.
We all go through adversity in life but as we all know it’s not what happens in life but how we deal with it. How true is this? When I was diagnosed with MS the neurologist who diagnosed me told me that my life as I knew it was over, that I should go home and put my affairs in order before I became incapacitated and that I would never do sport again.
Now I agree with him that my life as I knew it was over, but he was thinking in a negative way and I like to look at it in a positive way. I took that adversity and turned it into an advantage. I decided that I had MS, MS did not have me and that I would find ways to LIVE with it, not let it take over my life. Yes, I have had to do things differently but so what! My life is richer for the opportunities that having MS has given me. And yes, I do realise that I am very lucky that I don’t have Progressive MS, but I think my mind would have been in the same frame as it is now, that is just who I am.
Adversity can make or break us, so next time you are faced with a challenge, what will you do? Will you accept the challenge, use your adversity to your advantage and forge on to amazing success or will you back away and let opportunity pass you by?
“You should never view your challenges as a disadvantage. Instead, it's important for you to understand that your experience facing and overcoming adversity is actually one of your biggest advantages.” ~ Michelle Obama