5 Ways to Build Resilience and Conquer Adversity | Mark Manson
Another great, informative and fun read from Mark Manson. I always learn something new from his writings. It is well researched too. He adds references in the footnotes section of his post as proof.
Link: 5 Ways to Build Resilience and Conquer Adversity
Our aversion to pain and struggle in any capacity has become so ingrained in everything we do that it’s compromising our ability to learn, grow, and function as healthy and stable adults. It shocks and appalls me that companies and products that are supposed to help this issue are only making it worse.
You don’t build psychological resilience by feeling good all the time. You build psychological resilience by getting better at feeling bad.
There he goes again with his counter-intuitive logic. Except, it does make sense to me.
If I made a mental health app, the notifications you would wake up to would say things like:
- “Congratulations, you now have one less day to live. How are you going to make it count?”
- “Think of the person you love most in this world. Now imagine them being attacked by a swarm of killer hornets. Okay, now go tell them you love them.”
- “Andy Dufresne literally swam through three hundred yards of piss and shit for the opportunity to have freedom. Are you sure you’re not wasting yours?”
I wonder if anyone would download it.
I would.
The easiest way to overcome that anxiety is not to get rid of risk, it’s simply to make the risks worth something. Find some cause, some mission, some deeper purpose to your actions.
As Friedrich Nietzsche put it, “He who has a ‘why’ to live can bear almost any ‘how.’”
Great advice!
On that smoldering day in Austin, Texas, John Fox didn’t get rid of the risk of being shot. Rather, he merely found something worth getting shot for. And that’s what gave him the courage to move.
He even weaves in an active shooter story from 1966 to demonstrate his point. It seems to be a common theme in his writing by the way; using real stories to demonstrate a point. He did the same in his book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, where I learned about the story of a lone Japanese soldier who kept on fighting, not knowing that the war was over.
Okay at this point, I'm close to quoting every other paragraph in his post. So, I'll stop here. Go and read his article.
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