Monday, November 16, 2009

Adversity

I have many relationships with many different people. All of these relationships are different. Some people are acquaintances, some are co-workers, some are family, some are friends, etc… Over time I have realized that I value these relationships differently. I have also learned that it may not be productive to have expectations for these relationships. Let me explain….
The value that I (and the other person) establish happens in many ways. The ease of interaction or how much that person and I “click”, the sacrifice that I and the other person provide to help one another out, and many other things. Some relationships take many years to show whether or not that relationship will stand the test of time and adversity. The one aspect that I will focus on is just that, adversity. What happens or how does that person react or act in an adverse situation whether it is with you or just with them. To me this is extremely critical in deciding if this person is someone that I can trust to maintain their “cool” and presence in a tough situation. They show me during this time if I can depend on them to be there for me when I lose my cool and I need that other perspective to look at things from another perspective. Many people lack this from my experience. The people whom I consider to know me the best, or my best friends, are people who provide this for our relationship, as I do for them. It becomes difficult for me to put my trust in someone who tends to lose their cool when times get rough, because everyone experiences rough times. We learn more from failure then from success, so it is extremely important that lessons are learned in a time where you feel like you have no way out or you can’t “see” where to go next.
Life is hard. We are faced with many rough times, many tough situations, and we will have “failure” or adversity in some shape. But where I go from there is what is important to me. I will stay focused on what I want to accomplish no matter how many hurdles are placed in the way. The hurdles are my adversity and me sprinting over them is my life. The people (person) who are in my life will handle their life similarly, if not I wish them well on their journey.