A challenge could be an opening

Life is filled with all sorts of trials and challenges, but regardless of the forms in which they come, challenges can sometimes stop us in our tracks. Every now and again, we complain about the problems and challenges we encounter in our lives and sometimes feel that the world is closing in on us. We […]

Life is filled with all sorts of trials and challenges, but regardless of the forms in which they come, challenges can sometimes stop us in our tracks. Every now and again, we complain about the problems and challenges we encounter in our lives and sometimes feel that the world is closing in on us. We even wish that such adversities will not come our way so that our life will be all smooth and rosy.

Although many may argue that trials are for the ungodly and unbelievers, one cannot entirely agree with this view as even the greatest role models encountered challenges and acknowledged them as part of life which are meant to refine and make us better beings. And though some challenges confront one unprepared, never-the-less, Mahesh, a contributor to articlebase.com, explains that challenges will always exist. He said, “Life is like a huge game in which every animal is a player. For the animals living in the wild, their challenges revolve around finding food and not being eaten by some other animals. Humans in modern society have evolved past that and we get to choose what type of challenges we will have in life.

“You can choose to make your challenges those of basic survival much the same as the animals do and some people make this choice by living on the street. You can choose to make the challenges intellectual by studying and taking on a research career. Equally you could choose artistic challenges or business challenges or physical challenges or any other form of challenge. The ability to choose our type of challenges is what puts us above the other animals.”

It is the challenges that you meet in life that make life interesting, that is, if one is thoughtful enough to look at it from the positive perspective. If there were no challenges, you would not just be bored, boredom will become part of you; the psychological implication of such would better be imagined than experienced. How you handle your particular challenges determines who you become and what reward you get from life.

A challenge is regarded as a difficult experience, a hurdle to overcome, a test of one’s abilities or resources in a demanding way, to summon one to take action or effort. This, for many like Mike Adioture, has been the only way they have been able to forge on in life.

“For every milestone achievement in my life, a difficulty is what has presented me with an opportunity to achieve goals.  And I have learnt that each challenge we deal with can be used as a means to build ourselves up; as the saying goes, ‘challenges build character.’ I believe that what does not kill us makes us stronger.

“We, of course, have a choice – we can take the other track and allow circumstances of a difficult nature to tear us down or look it boldly in the face and try to work it around in our favour. At this point, the choice is for us to make. We need to ask ourselves whether to grow stronger facing and overcoming challenges or, if we prefer to allow them beat us down. The former builds character while the latter builds an attitude or spirit of defeatism.”

Andem Imana on her part lays emphasis on the opportunities each challenge presents.  According to her, “one of the rules of life is that every challenge that you are presented with comes as an opportunity in disguise. As a matter of fact, each one provides at least two types of opportunities; first, an opportunity for personal growth and second an opportunity for material gain.

“For me, the challenge is to identify these opportunities and to capitalise on them so that I can achieve personal growth and become a more evolved, more capable individual and also that I grab the opportunity for material gain and enhance the material quality of my life.”

The power of positive thinking involves one changing his/her mindset in order to see difficulties as opportunities. This way you can grow as a person, to learn something from, as well as to strengthen yourself.

Turning a challenge into opportunity is the best way to fix a problem. It means you are facing the situation from a different direction.