Adversity is just change that we haven’t adapted ourselves to yet. – Aimee Mullins
This guy lost part of his leg in a climbing accident. He could have quit, but he adapted and is climbing again. Would you?
What does that mean?
Adversity is defined at TheFreeDictionary as “A state of hardship or affliction; misfortune.” In the case of the author of today’s quote, it was losing both her legs just below the knee at a very young age.
Hardship? Yep. Misfortune, even, right? However, she worked at it. With the help of prosthetic legs, she was a great baseball player, and ran track & field in college. With the help of some more natural looking prosthetics, she managed to break into fashion modeling.
She adapted to this change in her life and has made a great life for herself. How well could you adapt to losing one or more limbs? She not only adapted, she has thrived, and has some motivational and informational videos out on the net, which I think you might find interesting.
Why is adapting important?
Adapting, or the ability to adapt, means to become adjusted to a situation and to become comfortable, functional, and even successful in it. In the case of the author of the quote, learning to live with various types of artificial legs (12 pair, according to one of her videos). By all accounts, she has done well. Movie actress, model, spokesperson, author, athlete (including the Paralympics in 1996) and so much more.
We all have things in our lives that we have to adapt to, things that bring hardship, misfortune, or affliction. The loss of your livelihood, the loss of a loved one, the loss of direction in life, setbacks of all sorts and varieties. It is only adversity until we have adapted ourselves to it.
Once we have adapted to the new reality, it is the new normal, right? It might not be fun, it might not be exactly what we wanted, but it is what we have to deal with. Adapting to the changes around us, adverse or not, is how we keep up with life, how we survive, and even thrive.
Where can I apply this in my life?
As usual, the quote rarely applies directly to the vast majority of us. What we have to do is determine how we will adapt to the adversity that comes to us in our lives. Earlier I mentioned a few things that could be considered adversity to most people.
The loss of your livelihood is one of the ones I have adapted to a few different times. My career field has it’s ups and downs. I even spent a couple years doing other work as one way to adapt. I set up fairly large savings accounts (a couple months worth of take home pay). I kept my ears up and listening for possible layoffs and for places that were hiring. I even networked with others.
What about the loss of a loved one? That’s bound to happen to nearly all of us at some point. How have you adapted in the past, and how might you adapt in the future? Have you given it much thought? Perhaps you should take a few moments now and consider how you would adapt to the changes.
What would you do about your daily schedule? Would there be an impact? How would you deal with the emotional side of things, how would you adapt to life without them? Where might you get support or assistance in your life? What did you come up with? I’m sure it wasn’t a pleasant journey, but the only way to avoid it is to go first, and that’s not too pleasant a thought either, is it?
What other forms of adversity to which you already have adapted? Were you skinny or fat as a kid? Did you wear glasses or braces? Were you too smart or not smart enough? Were you into things others thought were weird when you were growing up? You beat those adversities, even if only by outlasting them.
What else have you adapted to already? If you really went back and looked at everything you’ve done in your life, you’ve probably adapted to being laughed at by peers, your first (and second and…) broken heart, and so many other things that have occurred in your life.
I hope that this post has helped you see that you have already adapted to many changes in your life, and that you can adapt to many more. Life is full of change. The changes we don’t like, that we either have not yet adapted to, or would prefer not to adapt to, we label those ‘adversity.’
I hope you can see past the label, and realize it is just something you haven’t adapted to as yet. You can, if you put your best effort forward, and life will adjust to the new normal. From there, it’s up to you to make the most of the situation.
From: Twitter, @goOFFSITE
confirmed at : http://360mediaalliance.com/useful-business-quotes/ half way down
Photo by s_mestdagh
more info on Aimee at
http://amsdaily.net/2012/01/20/aimee-mullins-you-can-do-it/
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/sioncampus/06/20/aimee.mullins/
http://www.superiorpics.com/aimee_mullins/
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Aimee+Mullins&oq=Aimee+Mullins
