Overcoming Adversity: How Challenges Shape Character - Essay Sample

Introduction

When people face challenges, they tend to question and re-evaluate life and its meaning. The increased scrutiny of life and the purpose of an individual, which people undergo during challenges, and the resolution they make affects their character later in their lives. Adversities effects to character, led the Roman poet Horace to argue that "adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous times would have laid dormant” a statement that has been proven true throughout human history.

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Adversities

Adversities such as economic, political, and personal challenges such as poor health or misfortunes change how we perceive life and humanity in general. People who had comfortable and peaceful lives with no sign of impending tragedy are caught by surprise when uncertainty and turmoil enter into their lives. People who never had issues with their health suddenly find themselves fighting with life-threatening health conditions. The sudden realization of life fragility makes people re-orient their lives and have different priorities in life due to a different perspective. The new perspective improves the decisions an individual makes, therefore, improving their character (Bhatti, Salek, &Finlay, 2011).

Extraordinary Things to Survive

During periods of adversities, people have to do extraordinary things to survive what an individual can achieve during a challenging period if far much greater than what can be achieved when in comfortable times. If an individual does not surrender to adversity and accept the circumstance as beyond their control, they are motivated to face the challenges in a positive mindset. The great achievements during times of adversity remain as a reminder and shape a person's character due to the awareness of the greatness a person is capable of achieving. Extraordinary achievements can be observed in cases of mothers having emotional strength saving their children from danger (Ransom, 2011). When the perceived human limits are proven wrong, people are able to aim higher than, therefore, tapping potentials that would have lain dormant.

Conclusion

In conclusion, people adapt to the challenges by changing their perspective and going the extra mile to ensure their survival. This results in character change, which enables them to exploit their talents after the adversities. The effect of adversity on the character is well captured by the saying," hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men and weak men create hard times" (Hopf, 2016).

References

Bhatti, Z. U., Salek, M. S., & Finlay, A. Y. (2011). Chronic diseases influence major life-changing decisions: a new domain in quality of life research. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 104(6), 241-250.

Hopf, G. Michael. (2016). Those Who Remain: A Post-apocalyptic Novel. San Francisco: New World Publishing, 2016. Kindle.

Ransom Riggs. (25 March 2011). "Does Hysterical Strength Really Exist?". Retrieved from:
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/27333/does-hysterical-strength-really-exist