Adversity in Life Elicits Unknown Talents and Strength Essay

When people are struck with hardships in life, the way they react reveals their true character. Having a certain mindset can greatly influence how they handle problems, differentiating one person from another. Many can feel discouraged and feel like giving up when they hit a rough patch. In other cases, the will to be in a position better than where they are at the moment gives them the motivation to succeed. Adversity can have a positive effect on the development of an individual's character, providing them with the drive to overcome their current situation.

Adversity is something we will all face. It’ll affect everyone ranging, from myself to characters in a book. Even though going through something so challenging, so painful, and so life changing can be hard, how you chose to handle it affects whether or not you overcome it. Adversity can either break a person or make them stronger; it’s up to their will to fight.

Life is full of challenges. In the stories, “Breaking Through Uncertainty-Welcoming Adversity” and “Neighbours,” written by Jim McCormick and Lien Chao, the main characters illustrate benefits derived from taking risks. Even though both people in these texts undergo personal challenges, in “Neighbours” the character, Sally, receives greater benefits from taking risks than McCormick in “Breaking Through Uncertainty-Welcoming Adversity”.

“Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant.” What the Roman poet Horace was saying was that when there is an obstacle in our way, our true colors will radiate. I could not agree more. When we as human beings feel passionate about achieving a goal, we may learn something new of ourselves, maybe a new trait that we did not know we possessed, when we reach new heights we did not know we could push ourselves towards. Challenges are similar to tests. Challenges are faced every day, but how we respond to them determines how strong we really are. Prime examples are superheroes and students that move dramatically.

Adversity has a way of bringing up challenges unexpectedly, most people shrink away from it and get consumed, but when they push through it people come out stronger than they were before.

Roman Poet, Horace’s quote says, “Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant.” I agree with his stand on adversity because though it may seem bad, it can lead to finding your true self. If one was not put under enough duress. Then they wouldn't find out what type of person that are now will they find out how they will react to certain things. Having your character developed even more so may potentially lead to a brighter future, because then you may qualify for a position somewhere you want to be.

Overcoming adversity is hard, but these people survived the toughest obstacles that life could throw at you. Adversity is something everyone goes through, but these are extraordinary cases of what people went through.This crowd of people overcame adversity in three ways, only caring about what they thought, being creative, and facing their problems.

The Roman poet Horace states that “Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant.” By this, he explains the role these hardships play in shaping and developing a person’s character. I agree that adversity not only elicits talents, but also brings out the hidden aptitudes within a person that which they were unaware of before. Through learning experiences and observations, I have witnessed the significant outcomes that come from the result of adversities.

One place where Horace’s quote holds true is in current events. In the national news there is misfortune and chaos seemingly everywhere. A first example of this is with Hurricane Harvey, hitting Texas and the surrounding area, in August-September 2017. This category 3 hurricane has been one of the worst and most destructive hurricanes to hit the United States. Texas and Louisiana flooded, causing billions of dollars of damage and nearly a hundred lives to be lost. Despite all of this, the citizens of the community came together to volunteer and help each other, and it revealed their spirit and resilience. Just like the quote, adversity brought out the best of Americans and tested their strength in a way that would not happen if Hurricane Harvey hit them. A second example is with the Vegas shooting which happened October 1st at a concert, leaving 58 deaths and 546 more injured, making it America’s deadliest shooting. Following the tragedy, it gave anti-gun activists opportunity to fight for stricter gun control. Also this incident, like with Hurricane Harvey, has brought the country together, supporting the victims and their families, and wanting to stop the violence and hate in America. It shows that misfortune can play a positive and influential role.

Adversity is when someone faces a difficult event or misfortune. This can affect people in many different ways. Some people shut down and give up but others grow and become stronger when facing adversity. In the short stories called “The Sniper” by Liam O’Flaherty and “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell the characters face different kinds of adversity and find a way to overcome it. In “The Sniper” the character faces adversity because he is in a war and kills many other human beings and he ended up killing his own brother. This is a major misfortune for the main character because he lost someone he card about and it was his own fault. But, he did not give up on his own life after this event, instead, he decided to never pick up a weapon and point it at any human being again. In “The Most Dangerous Game” the main character named Rainsford faces adversity because in the story, a man named Zarnoff, who hunts people for living, is now hunting Rainsford. So, Rainsford has to overcome his fears and use his knowledge to defeat Zarnoff. So, a person needs to be very ambitious and hardworking to overcome adversity.

Before getting back up after you fall you have to gather all your strength and push whatever made you fall harder.Every time you fall the same solution might not work so you have to be stubborn and keep an attitude that tells your challenger Try your best shot, and that if you fall you won’t be gone for long.People overcome obstacles in less than three ways the three ways are by keeping a positive attitude, being determined, and lastly being a creative problem solver.

The character traits I possess that have helped me to overcome personal adversity are curiosity, focus, and composure. First of all, curiosity helps me to easily gain a lot of knowledge because I always have a desire to know more about every information. For example, why question is my frequency question in class. This help me to understand the lessons and memorize them longer. Especially, I always ask myself what I should do to be better; therefore, I can forget difficulties and continue to work harder. The second trait that help me to overcome my adversity is focusing on everything I do. I always know what I should do and how to make a plan for it. Planning and focusing help me to stay on the right track so that I can quickly achieve success. Last but not least, I believe that composure is one of the most important trait that can help me to solve my problems faster. In fact, whenever I have problem in life, I always try to calm down and spend time to think carefully instead of getting angry. Therefore, I can find out

I didn’t know my dad and mom. When I was three years old, I moved to Vietnam where my first memories weren’t of my parents, but instead, my aunt and uncle. As my parents were across the world in Vancouver, I lived in Vietnam, unaware of their existence. I didn’t know I was born in Canada or that my auntie and uncle were not my parents during the time. Growing up, I faced obstacles of identity, creating connections and being a part of a community. The support I have received growing up has brought me invaluable opportunities and experiences. Despite my adversity, the challenges I encountered have taught me important skills that have made into the person I am today.

Adversity puts people in difficult or unpleasant situations which can create very strong emotions that can help or harm. When people face adversity, it is seen as a challenge and whether or not they overcome the challenge is personal. However regardless of whether adversity helps or harms, it is advantageous because it offers a challenge to overcome which builds character.

Adversity, rather it be a bully at school or even a sprained ankle playing your favorite sport; these things are what build our character. When we are young we are naive to the world around us, our only influence is our family.As a child you adopt a base character, adversity helps build onto this. In ‘We Were Liars’ by E. Lockhart the liars are blinded by wealth and power, when tragedy strikes the liars characters are changed dramatically showing that adversity is the main influence on a person's character.