All People Handle Adversity Differently

Everyday, we go through situations and experiences that affect us in someway, perhaps even change us. Different situations have different effects. The more difficult the situation is, the more of an effect it has on us. Those hard times can be called adversity. How do we, as humans, react to adversity? What are the possible effects it may have?

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.

Every person faces adversity differently. In this selection, the question is this: are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean. The carrot faces challenges hard, seemingly strong, but comes out the other side soft and weak. The egg is fragile, with a thin shell, goes through its changes to become hardened on the inside. Finally, there is the coffee bean: through its adversity- its boiling water- it changes into something entirely different, while changing the circumstances and conditions around it. I believe there are all types of these people in the world; many are eggs and carrots, and slightly fewer coffee beans. Immense numbers of people don’t handle adversity well, and some never truly learn how to. I personally believe

Overall, adversity is not always something to be avoided. Once someone is affected by adversity in their life, they must keep going and work through it opposed to allowing it to block them permanently. While enduring a difficult time, people are most vulnerable and receptive, making it imperative to properly handle these misfortunes that shape

Hardships have the power to make a break a person, as Roman poet, Horace, once said, “Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant”. Everyone has or will have to face adversity at some point in their lives, it is a universal truth. Although misfortunes usually have a negative connotation, depending on the struggle and how one deals with it, it is likely the person will come out of misfortune better prepared for the world. Contrastly, if a person never experienced any hardships, they would lack a sophisticated understanding of the world and lack the ability to handle difficult situations. Adversity gives people strength they can not obtain with success.

Of course, adversity is ultimately inevitable in life. When a problem arises, individuals are generally astonished at the response to the complexity of the situation. This makes adversity becomes a wall that is unable to be broken down. However, there is a point in an individual where their instincts can reveal the truth, “it’s part of life to have obstacles, it’s about overcoming obstacles, that’s the key to happiness.” Qualities and characteristics of individuals are revealed during the hard times. These talents that are within us, that are usually locked up to give the ability for an individual to unlock the adversity that it created. In this sense, an individual true color and nature can be revealed leading to a new understanding of the capability to overcome adversities.

Napoleon Hill once stated, “Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.” From George Washington to Nelson Mandela, greatness is cultivated from adversity during turbulent times. Horace’s assertion is correct in view of the fact that adversity causes people to act, reveals vulnerabilities, and forces people to adapt.

will be my own share of adversity in which I will need to look myself in the mirror and ask

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 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.

Human beings emotionally thrive on the will to survive, yet how they react to adversity will determine their length of drive they have within. Everybody will eventually face a situation where their mentality will be tested, no matter how happy their life had been. Even in fictional stories, authors must write out their characters facing a major conflict or else there would be no character build, a necessary component of a fantastic novel. Roman poet Horace quoted how the best traits of a person will lay dormant unless they are faced in a miserable situation. However, the results after facing an adversity are debatable. Adversity comes in multiple sized tests that shows how you react by what you experience personally and the results can be either negative or positive on the person’s behalf. Although people facing adversity are expected to present their best traits by Horace beliefs, the background of each individual is what truly determines their ability to grow or falter in undesirable situations.

On the other hand, the one who takes it, he may suffer but he may endure and may even prevail. And yet, there are countless instances when he may choose to persist in quietly carrying the load... until he eventually perishes under its ever-growing weight. Natural selection favors the guy whose genes drive him to have the correct reactions.

People allow adversity to rid them of hope. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut highlights the pitfalls of mankind in their perception of love, death, war, and societal norms through the unusually clear lenses of Billy Pilgrim. Pilgrim’s acceptance towards life relieves him of the weight of the world; however, even Pilgrim is unable to remain indifferent about war. Billy Pilgrim encounter with the Tralfamadorians granted him an extraterrestrial way of thinking.

The articles that I read for this assignment were “Bullies and Victims: Revenge Revisited”, “The Partner as Enemy”, and “Competition: Who’s the Greatest?”. Each one of these articles is an in-depth analysis on the human psyche, and each one gives the reader a chance to grapple with some of the bigger questions in life. These articles all talk about subject matter that should be relevant to the reader at one time or another in their life. As I read the articles more closely, a central theme began to emerge. That, through a fixed mindset, one is unable to make the changes necessary to better one’s self. That one is unable to truly move forward with becoming a better person until one loses that way of thinking.

When adversity strikes, am I a carrot, egg, or coffee bean? That is a complex metaphorical question that requires thoughtful deliberation before being answered. A carrot, egg, and coffee bean all respond to the same adversity (boiling water) in different ways. A carrot enters boiling water strong and hard, but comes out weak and soft. When an egg enters boiling water it is fragile, but afterwards the inside becomes hard. The coffee bean that is subjected to boiling water actually changes the water and releases a pleasant fragrance and flavor. Responding to adversity the way a coffee bean does would probably be the best option, but I do not feel that I respond like a coffee bean during every adverse situation I face. In reality, I feel that I respond to varying situations in different ways, as a carrot, egg, and coffee bean.