Before the Civil War, Edmund McIhenny operated a sugar plantation and a saltworks on Avery Island, Louisiana. Yankee troops invaded the area in 1863, and McIhenny had to flee. When he returned in 1865 his sugar fields and saltworks were ruined.
One of the few things left were some hot Mexican peppers that had reseeded themselves in the kitchen garden. McIhenny, who was living hand to mouth, started experimenting with the ground peppers to make a sauce that would liven up his dull diet.
His newfound sauce is known today as Tabasco sauce. To this day, over 145 years later, the McIhenny Company and its Tabasco business is still run by the McIhenny family. (Go look in your fridge. I bet you have a jar in there!)
Do you realize this?
The tragedy of the Civil war and the loss of all he had was actually the greatest thing that ever happened to him! It gave him and his family a fortune they would never have had without it.
What if how we normally see adversity is all wrong? Do you know why we usually feel so bad when we face adversity?
It’s because we see setback, pain, and problems as things that are always bad. We think those things equal a bad life. We think those things are going to permanently hold us back.
But is any of that really the right way to see or think about adversity? Is it always bad?
To understand the new way we need to start seeing adversity, I want you to think about the following story that I found…
“Take two acorns from the same tree, as nearly alike as possible; plant one of a hill by itself, and the other in the dense forest, and watch them grow.
“The oak standing alone is exposed to every storm. Its roots reach out in every direction, clutching the rocks and piercing deep into the earth. Every rootlet lends itself to steady the growing giant, as in anticipation of fierce conflict with the elements.
“Sometimes its upward growth seems checked for years, but all the while it has been expending its energy in pushing a root across a large rock to gain a firmer anchorage. Then it shoots proudly aloft again, prepared to defy the hurricane. The gales that sport so rudely its wide branches find more than their match, and only serve still further to toughen every minutest fiber from pitch to bark.
“The acorn planted in the deep forest shoots up a weak, slender sapling. Shielded by its neighbors, it feels no need to spread its roots far and wide for support.
Do you see what happened?
The oak tree on the hill, that faced every adversity you can imagine, grew to become the taller, greater oak tree. All the stress it went through actually made it stronger!
Horace, the ancient Roman poet said it like this… “The very difficulty of a problem evokes abilities or talents which would otherwise, in happy times, never emerge to shine.”
So you see… Adversity and trials cause us to grow. No pain. No gain.
If the tree could’ve chosen to live a life sheltered from any adversity, then it would’ve never become great.
If you could sit down and interview some of the great men and women in this world and ask them how they became so great, the majority would tell you that it came from their going through trials. That’s where they gained their wisdom, knowledge, experience which led them to greatness.
Or let me ask you this…
If you want to become big and buffed, or you want to lose weight, what does it take?
Do you have to cause yourself to go through some adversity in your life or can you just choose a life of ease and happiness?
You know the answer! It’s the people that put their bodies through the adversity of exercise and diet who are the strongest and the healthiest.
And it’s the same for us mentally and emotionally!
Adversity causes us to grow.
A New Way To View Adversity
We need to view adversity like an in shape person views working out. It should bring us joy because of what it does to us. It’s when we view adversity and trials in this way can we actually have joy over it!
And just like an out of shape person’s view of working out gives them no joy from it or no benefit from it… if we see adversity as only a bad thing, then we’ll never have any type of joy over them or get any benefit from it.
My challenge for you today is this: look for the best thing that can come from the worst thing that’s happening in your life right now. Let your view and opinion of it change as you focus on this.
Next week, when I get back from vacation, I’ll get back to posting more about content marketing and using content to attract prospects and convert them to customers.
Until then…
DON’T FORGET:
If you’re one of the first 100 people to “like” the new Recession Solution “fan page” I created on Facebook, then I’ll email you copies of both of my ebooks, “How Your Business Can Survive And Prosper In A Recession”. (That’s a retail value of $47.)
People have already started “liking”, but you still have a chance to be one of the first 100 and get my ebooks for free. Go here http://ht.ly/2dIin to become a Facebook fan a “like” it!
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Thanks,
Scott @rampbusinesses
I’m a business strategist, consultant, content creation specialist, and speaker. I’ve been studying effective marketing and business methods (both online and offline) since 1999.
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