Living in sunshine and rainbows is great and all…but there’s one problem. You’ll never improve. You’ll never grow. While many of us don’t like struggles in life, challenges make you stronger!
Don’t Pray For an Easy Life, Pray for Strength to Overcome Challenges
Want to get physically stronger? What do you do?
- Sit on the couch,
- eat Fritos,
- watch TV,
- …and then wonder why you’re not gaining any strength?
Of course not!
We all know that to build strength in your arms, you’ve got to lift heavy weight with those arms.
The more you push yourself, the more you’ll be able to lift the next time, and the bigger and stronger you’ll get!
If you want to grow physically stronger, you’ve got to go through pain to get there.
The Same is True in Life – Challenges Make You Stronger
- You get injured
- You go through a divorce
- Your spouse dies
Terrible things happen every day, and I wouldn’t wish them on any of you. And honestly, you shouldn’t wish them on yourself.
BUT, challenges WILL happen in life. No matter if you’re rich or poor, black or white, male or female, you WILL have struggles in this life.
With these challenges though, you can take one of two approaches.
- You can take the “woe is me” approach. You can be all sad and bitter because of what happened, or…
- You can think, ponder, pray, and decide to be a better person because of those challenges.
Avenue #1 leads to an old, crotchety, bitter existence.
Avenue #2 leads to kindness, joy, wisdom, and compassion.
When times get tough, which avenue will you choose?
Related: 10 Signs You’re Not Saving Enough For Retirement
Overcoming Adversity – The Helen Keller Story
Many of you have heard of Helen Keller, but do you really know her story?
Helen was born on June 27, 1880 in Tuscumbia, Alabama.
At first, things were normal. In fact, she was super advanced as a child. She started speaking at 6 months old and was walking at 1 year old.
Then, at 19 months old, she got sick with a disease called “brain fever”.
She lost her eyesight and hearing. And for a while, her life spiraled out of control.
She couldn’t communicate, she often threw tantrums out of frustration, and her future was likely a dismal one.
But, thankfully, Helen never gave up. With the help of Anne Sullivan, Helen learned to understand a type of sign language by feeling the signs in her hand. Within a few years, she started speech classes so that others could understand her.
In 1896, Helen attended Cambridge School for young ladies. She excelled. By 1904, Helen graduated from Radcliffe College with honors.
Helen Keller – The Rest of the Story
The challenges of Helen Keller were difficult. I mean, can you imagine losing your sight and your hearing right now…at this point in your life?
It would be devastating!
And this happened to Helen Keller before she turned 2 years old…before she even learned how to communicate!
But she pressed forward and made it through. Overcoming all adversity.
Later in her life, Helen became a bit of a living legend. She traveled the world, gave inspirational speeches, and she even wrote books!
Her story inspired millions to do more, get better, and grow stronger in their own lives. After all, Helen had probably the toughest story imaginable and she made it through!
If someone that is deaf and blind becomes successful in life, you certainly have no excuses! And that was exactly her message.
Overcoming Challenges on the Path to Wealth
Where are you on your life’s journey right now? How are you doing financially?
- Do you wish you didn’t have any debt?
- Would you like to be saving more for retirement?
- Is your net worth far lower than it should be at your age?
You may be behind financially, but that shouldn’t dictate your future.
We can all make changes to improve our finances:
- Work for a raise at work
- Start a side hustle
- Find ways to spend less
- Sock away at least 15% for retirement
And you know what? You may need to change your core group of friends.
They might be headed toward a life of approach #1 (the ‘woe is me’ approach).
If you want to advance in your financial life, you’re going to need to find some other weird people – people that are more interested in saving money and investing than they are about complaining about how hard they’ve got it in this life…
Not sure where to start with your new financial journey?
Start with my “Start Here” page.
If you’re trying to get your financial life together for the first time in your life, start with step #1. If you’re more advanced, then perhaps you can skip up to step #6 or #7. Wherever you are on your wealth journey, commit to getting better today!
Related: What is the Opposite of Success?
Are You Ready to Face Your Challenges Head On?
So how about you?
Are you ready to do better in life?
Are you ready to face those challenges head on?
I sure hope so! Because remember, legends don’t come from a carefree exitance. They’re made because they experienced hardships, battled their way through the turmoil, and came out stronger on the other side!
Facing challenges make you stronger. Are you ready to overcome your challenges in life? Start today!
AUTHOR Derek Sall
Derek has a Bachelor's degree in Finance and a Master's in Business. As a finance manager in the corporate world, he regularly identified and solved problems at the C-suite level. Today, Derek isn't interested in helping big companies. Instead, he's helping individuals win financially--one email, one article, one person at a time.