The Gift of Tough Times

I actually thought my mother didn't like me when she sent me to a military school for boys, and I didn't even imagine all the hardship I would go through. I hated most days, actually, but I am now thankful for all I experienced there. One thing I learnt was to be confident and brave. And that's only one of the many tough times.

_{Shot on my Redmi Note 10 Pro}

When I recount the hurdles this year came with alone, I smile. Some may have been ugly, but guess who's here standing strong? I really have done a few things that I thought to be really difficult. And what I have realised through them is that I learnt at every point.

I'm learning to focus more on what's ahead. Not slowed down by what once was, and not distracted by how it may seem in the present. I reckon that things could have been a little different and perhaps convenient if so, but what's life without its challenges? That's how we learn sometimes.

If my parents could, they probably would have made me have the softest life. Wouldn't it be so nice, really, to have just what I need and want at my fingertips? Perhaps if they could, too, I would have everything happen exactly as planned. No problems, ups and downs, no mistakes—just soft. Just perfect. It shouldn't be like that, even if it's possible.

From the mistakes we make, the challenges we face, or even tribulations, we grow and evolve when we learn, conquer, and persevere. It's how human evolution got us to this point. People see problems and find solutions to them, and voila, we're in an age where the impossible a century ago is the norm today.

Sometimes, discomfort could be necessary for change to happen. When you realise that something isn't going well and you try to make a difference, that's how situations improve—when you act.

And when people go through hard times, they become strong and create good times. It is why many of us work so hard to not only make ends meet but also be able to secure a good future for our children, so they don't have to go through the uglies we did and have much better lives. It's why you'd find fathers that mostly walked to school in their times try to provide everything their kids need.

The thing about good times, however, is that they could bring too much comfort and lead to complacency and stagnancy. People don't necessarily see the need to work hard when things are already soft. And a complacent mind leads to weakness. There'll be no growth or evolution with no need to.

It's a good thing to provide children with what they need, but it is equally important to teach them how to find ways to add value and understand the importance of braving challenging times; otherwise, we get back to square one eventually with hard times again. It'll be a problem if they are always comfortable and don't know how to navigate touch situations. They'll lack the independence and resilience they need to thrive.

In the words of G. Michael Hopf...

"Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And weak men create hard times." Although this quote simplifies generational theory, it encapsulates the idea that as a society progresses from hardship to prosperity, the generation that has been shielded from struggle—the so-called "weak men"—may become complacent, leading to a return of difficult times. These "weak men" often lose sight of the sacrifices made by their predecessors to create those good times and may even challenge the very norms that brought about the nation's success. _Source

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