9 Ways to Turn Adversity to Your Advantage

Adversity is like standing before a grave. It can make you come alive or it can bury you. This post is about learning ways to use adversity to come alive.

These are steps I have used, taught, and seen distinct success in turning adversity into a springboard to create value. Do know that dealing with adversity is not easy, yet conquering the adversity will give you confidence, inspire others, and make you ready for the next challenge in your life.

First know that adversity is like rain and the sun. It will fall and shine on all the same. Rich, poor, black, white, old, or young, all will experience adversity at sometime in life. As a very wealthy lady I was listening to stated,

“As I was holding my grandson, in my St. John suit, it seemed that he did not realize how much it cost when he lost his lunch on my shoulder”.

So half the fight is in realizing adversity will happen to you. What can we do? Be prepared. Before I go on let’s take a moment to define adversity. Let’s say it is bad luck, misfortune, something that comes against you, or trouble. You get the picture. Now see the ways to turn adversity to a more favorable position for you.

1. Use your imagination to project yourself into an adverse position. Make it as real as possible. This helps to reduce shock and panic when the real thing comes along. I know you may think, huh? The power of your mind is so great that you can imagine true adversity and thereby actually experience fear and anxiety.

I used to think what would happen if I lost use of my legs. I projected myself into imagining the grief, acceptance, and then deciding to do something that did not require walking; imagining that I became very good at whatever I had chosen to do. Not the same as real life, but it plants a seed of hope, an anchor that my mind can hold onto if this setback occurred.

2. Stop that runaway train. This is where you practice keeping the adversity from growing larger than it really is by keeping the adversity in perspective. You know. “I complained about having no shoes, until I saw a man with no feet”.

3. Take adversity day by day. Do not project what the next day will bring; live in the present and deal with the now moment.

4. Breathe. Often we forget that part of life is just keeping the basics going. Have you ever anticipated a painful moment or being confronted by a difficult person and found yourself holding your breath? I have too! Deliberately breathe slowly in/out and release a portion of the anxiety until you can think clearly.

5. Laugh at the adversity. This is great for conquering the fear of a paralyzing moment. If you don’t believe it works think about a time someone scared you suddenly. You naturally begin laughing as a way of releasing stress brought about by uncertainty. Laugh. It may not change the situation but it will change you.

6. Think, what would ______ do? Replace the blank with someone you admire for being resourceful, capable, and experienced in handling your adverse issue. For me, it was my grandmother and Abraham Lincoln.

7. Be still. Just decide to have the response of “no response” (as long as the adversity is not life threatening at that moment). Letting yourself be pushed to an ill timed response places you in an out of control feeling. This is where mistakes are made. Treat it like a stop sign. Stop and look both ways before crossing.

8. Make like a poker player and “bluff”. The key to the “bluff” is making sure the adversity does not know what you have in your mind. Act bold and you will become bold. You often don’t have much to lose.

9. Fight back. Do not cooperate. Say “no”. Treat the adversity as if someone called your mother out of her given name (not for use when the adversity comes from your mother). The key here is to walk away feeling good about who you are.

Try variations and combinations of these ways in turning adversity to your advantage.

Share a comment on how you handle adversity.

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 Hi! My name is Vonzel Sawyer. I am a husband, father, and grandfather. I started blogging to share from my experience, knowledge, wisdom, instruction, and understanding to help persons maxamize and magnify the positive in their life. That is why I used the terms "maximum" and "magnification" and combined them into a single word "maxafication". Just like something can be magnetized or winterized. I want to impact people to live largely and fully each day!

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