Happiness through hardship

A few years back I got into lifting weights. I loved it and how it works. Muscles are developed by being torn and then rebuilding themselves. We get stronger by the process of tear and repair.

In the past few years psychologists have identified something called Post Traumatic Growth – people who go through tough times can learn lessons that lead to them being stronger and happier in the long term. Resilience is often thought about as an ability to bounce back. Here the ball doesn’t just bounce back. It comes back higher, as a RESULT of the pressure. Of course there are exceptions to this but if you find this way of thinking too rose-tinted take...

The Eraser Test
Think of a tough time you’ve lived through
Imagine there was the technology to delete it from your life. Here’s the catch...
You have to remove everything that came as a RESULT of this event
Would you erase the tough time if everything that came as a result was deleted too?

Most people asked the last question say no, because the growth that has come out of a tough time is what got them where they are today.

Want to go deeper? Try Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s book Anti-Fragile and Happier by Tal Ben Shahar