THE UNSEEN BENEFITS OF OUR WORST MOMENTS

Recently I was chatting with a good friend of mine and in the process we talked about our worst moments. I said to him, I have been through tough, rough and dark times in life that I doubt anything can really bring me down again. In response, he said " Maybe because u have not heard of my worse things." but later on said, "Mtcheew look at how I am talking as if worse things are achievement.." 😃 I laughed out loud at first but took a second thought at it and said to him jokingly " but come to think of it, it could be an achievement ooooo" In response, he laughed and said " Motivational speaker abeg, none of them is an achievement o. " then I said to him, you just gave me a topic to write on and his response was "Start writing." and coined the topic "Unforeseen Benefits of our Worst Moments" for me to work on. Now, it may not necessarily be that how we have tackled the worst times in our lives are achievements but whether we have scaled through rough times or dwell in the pains of such times, there are benefits that some of us did not see, refuse to see or unaware that they are already part of us after experiencing tough times while for some of us, we have seen certain benefits as a result of the tough times we have been through.

Smart Marcus, the man behind today's discussion.

No matter how difficult life gets, there is and always will be a positive outcome or something to gain positively. Most people are afraid to face their fears and the reality of life, making them just dreamers with an uninspired life. The punches and lemons life throws at you will give you a clear head start enabling you to have batter plans for yourself. When you know how to respond to tough times, you reap great benefits that will last you a long time in life.

WHAT ARE THESE BENEFITS OF OUR WORST MOMENTS?

EXPERIENCE : The first thing tough times give you is experiences that in most cases we do not want. No one wants to experience or planned experiencing the worst moments of their lives but life will always dish out such moments to us at every phase of life. Bitter experiences when looked at with positive mindset become sharpening tools with which to conquer all forms of trials. The first experience gained in tough times, enables you overcome the next tough time in life. Life is not always fair but beautiful. According to Robert Schuller, "Tough times don't last but tough people do."

HUMILITY : When faced with tough times, life humbles us to the core. Ever witnessed a very rich and probably arrogant man crumble all of a sudden due to challenges faced? No one tells such a man to be humble even when he rises back up. Statuses are not forever, anything can happen at anytime. Comfort enjoyed at the moment could be discomfort anytime. Life gives you a wake up call when things tend to go smoothly on how you want or envisaged life to be but the sad truth is, life doesn't always give us what we want. Enjoy the gift of everyday life gives to you with gratitude and humility but when life throws you some lemons know that you can rise again by turning the lemons into lemonades. Hard times indicate to us how fragile we are and that everything we have or are is nothing but gift from God. Pride only leads to a fall.

STRENGTH AND GROWTH : Strength is developed in our worst moments and growth achieved depending on how well we take the worst moments. When difficult times set in, there seems to be an abrupt stop or pause in our lives with no head way in sight but a positive and successful person sees a head way and uses the difficult times to set better plans ahead. Do not sit in pity but turn the negative vibes to positive ones by steering your energy to the direction of positivity. According to Barbara De Angelis " We don't develop happiness by being happy everyday. We develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity."


ETHICAL VALUES : Life's worst moments teach us valuable lessons and ethics that we hold on to. The value placed on achievements by the one who hustled day in day out will be much higher than the one who gets almost everything on a silver platter. One who has been hit hard by life's tough challenges builds himself ethical values towards achieving success in order to avoid experiencing such times again or be able to tackle such moments headstrong. Values and ethics such as dedication, discipline, sincerity, hard-work, promptness etc  to one's job/career and personal life is developed to achieve a set goal. Tough times give you the opportunity to practice perseverance, forgiveness, faith, patience and helps build your character as well as improve yourself.



IDENTIFICATION OF PARASITIC RELATIONSHIPS : In life, people tend to quickly and easily identify with successful people. When things are going well for you, you get so many people flock around you but once the ship is down, you see them quietly jumping ship and when they smell things turning around for your good again, you see them flocking around you again. The worst moments of your life enables you identify parasitic friends and helps you to know how to handle such persons in life. You simply place them where they belong without hatred in your heart.

DEPENDENCE ON GOD : After doing all you can and life throws you more than you can bear, you get to know that only God can see you through. When all else fails, God remains true and faithful to His word. When all the men you look up to fail you, you realize you have no one else to look up to but God. If you were doing things your own way feeling its nothing but your strength and intelligence, life will knock some sense into you letting you know its nothing but God's grace that has kept and brought you this far in life. God comes in where your strength fails. He unveils the next step to take when you lean on Him and directs you through the right path arriving at your destination.

COMPASSION : If you are or were the type that hardly develops passion or empathy for people, you certainty will start doing that after you have had some worst moments in life. If you have ever lost anyone or anything in life, then you would know how it feels when someone experiences same. If you have gone hungry, you will always have compassion on those who have nothing to eat. Because you have once experienced what someone else is going through, you will always understand their pains and stretch out a helping hand either morally or financially.

We've all had worst, tough and rough moments I am sure, but its either we let them shape our lives or we let them mar us. Do not let your past bitter experiences determine your present or future but God alone. We either learn from our past mistakes/life's experiences or we don't. We either let past errors or worst moments in life control us or we take charge of our lives. Always look out for the positive outcome of every bad experience you encounter.

Quote for the day - " God's grace shows up in our worst moments but it never leaves us there. It takes us to better things." Anonymous

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