You can choose how you respond to adversity

There are two ways you can respond to adversity.  With positivity, or with negativity.  And it is a choice.  You may not have any control over the challenges you face, but you can determine how you react to difficult situations.  But where does the positivity or negativity come from?  Why, it’s inside you, of course!  Let me explain what I mean.

Many years ago, when my niece was quite young, I recall that we were grilling some chicken on the barbeque one summer afternoon. She picked up the plastic bottle of ketchup and asked, “Aunty, if I squeeze this bottle, what will come out?” Matter of factly, I replied, “Ketchup”. Then she picked up the bottle of mustard and asked once again, “And if I squeeze this bottle, what will come out?” “Mustard,” I replied. True to form, she leaned over to pick up the bottle of relish, and as you might have guessed, I jumped in, “And when you squeeze the bottle of relish, out comes relish.”

With the innocence found only in a child, she asked, “But why Aunty?” And that point, I paused, stumped by this seemingly simple question. Sensing my hesitation, she smiled, and offered an answer of her own. “I know why, Aunty,” she said. “When you squeeze the bottle, what’s inside has to come out.”

You can choose how you respond to adversity 

Human beings are like those plastic condiment bottles. When we are squeezed, what’s inside comes out too. And unfortunately, we get squeezed a lot. Whether in our professional or our personal lives, we are faced with stressors on a daily basis that “squeeze” us.  For most of us, this is a reality of life, and in many cases, beyond our control. But what goes inside in the first place (and then gets squeezed out) depends on us. If we allow ourselves to fill up with negative thoughts and information, when we are squeezed, the negativity comes spewing out. But when we choose to fill up with constructive thoughts, ongoing learning, and positive information, optimism is the result.

So consciously choose what you fill up with. Leave your social media apps alone for a few days, they just take you down the rabbit hole called negativity.  Instead listen to some upbeat and uplifting music. Stop checking news updates every fifteen minutes; limit yourself to just one newsbreak a day.  Read a good book in its place. Instead of focusing on that one big thing that went wrong today, concentrate on the many small things that went right. Remember, when you are squeezed, it is what is inside that comes out! How you respond to adversity depends on what you fill up with in the first place.

Well, what do you think?  Does this analogy resonate with you?  If so, what (and where) are you filling up? Please add your comment below.