Why Challenging Moments In Your Life Should Bring The Biggest Learning Experiences.

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I would dare say that the majority of us know that there are always going to be challenges that we have to face in life. Some of the most important challenges we face are going to be individual challenges that only we alone must endure. Then, there are going to be some challenging moments that we as a collective have to face. There are many different ways that the challenges that we face can be viewed. Adding to that notion, depending on the person and the challenge at hand, most of us would prefer not to even face them. Regardless of if you're someone that embraces challenges or run away from them, it is inevitable that you're going to have them as long as you're alive. Now I will admit that I totally understand that some challenges are worthy of shying away from if possible. For example, if a belligerent person that was intoxicated challenged you to a fight, you may do better to just walk away from a challenge of that nature. However, challenging moments that are unavoidable can't be viewed as something that you can just step away from. You have to be willing to face them whether they're for better or worse. As I've gotten older, my viewpoint on challenging moments has evolved quite a bit. Rather than just viewing them as challenges alone, I see them as a big opportunity for growth.

Hello once again internet family! This is Brad H. back once again, and I'd like to once again welcome you all to another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! This is a platform that I use to give my perspective on a subject matter that I feel would be helpful to us all. Thank you once again to those of you that are joining me. So continuing with the theme of the Coronavirus pandemic that we're currently in, I'm going to use my soapbox to talk about the reopening of various states by their governors. Now I live in Texas, and the governor here announced a plan to start reopening in phases. In other states like Georgia for example, there is a more aggressive reopening taking place. I believe many of the businesses in Georgia are operational in limited capacity now. I'm not going to get into whether or not I believe there should be an reopening of the United States economy. That's pretty irrelevant at this point since everyone has their own opinion. However, I do want to use my soapbox to say something that I've said in previous topics that I've covered. Please, please, please do what you feel is best for you and those that you care for. If you don't feel that it is a safe option to reopen the economy so soon, don't allow a politician to push you into a situation that you feel unsafe with. I know that a lot of beaches and state parks are opening now, and I know that a lot of us have cabin fever from this pandemic. I just encourage you all to use your own judgement and not the persuasion of a politician. We have five senses, so we have to use them how we see fit for our own lives. Well that is pretty much it for my soapbox, so lets go ahead and tackle the topic of why challenging moments in our lives should bring the best learning experiences.

Now we've discussed briefly how there are always going to be challenges to endure in life. More importantly than the challenges themselves, the way we handle and react towards those challenges matter quite a bit. Some of us just see the challenges that we face as obstacles that just have to be overcome. While I don't see anything wrong with viewing challenges in that light, I also believe that there are also lessons that can be taken away from the things we endure. From my own perspective, the challenges aren't always the end all, be all. They're not only obstacles that we have to face, but they're opportunities that can allow you to learn about the kind of person you are. Now again, I do understand that not everyone will see them in this kind of way. In fact, I would go far as to say that most of us do not process the challenges that we face on a deeper level. For one thing, depending on the extent of what kind of challenges that you're facing, you probably just want to get it over with and move on with your life. Again, this state of mind is totally understandable, but one thing to always keep in mind is that for as long as you're alive and breathing, challenges are always going to be present in your life.

Now I'm going to get into the main theme that brought me to want to address the importance of viewing challenging moments as learning experiences. Remember where I spoke earlier about some challenges being individuals challenges, and others being collective? If we think about the global pandemic that we're currently in the midst of, I would say that this situation is one that we are facing as a collective. Now I don't want to deviate or take away from the idea that this pandemic is bringing individual challenges that we must face. This situation is definitely affecting our lives as both individuals and a collective. However, the fact of the matter is that this is something that we all have had to make some adjustments in our lives to, which ultimately means that this is something we have to face together. Now there are all kind of ways and theories on what the Coronavirus pandemic means in terms of why it is happening. You can see it from anything from just something random happening, or something that has a greater meaning behind happening. Again, there are various ways of viewing this reasoning for this crisis. I personally have the mindset of there is not only a reason for why this entire pandemic is happening, but also that there are lessons that we can take away from it.

So why should challenging moments in our lives bring the biggest learning experiences? Well from my own personal perspective, I believe that the challenges that we endure should always end with us being better people from them. I wrote on my Twitter a couple of weeks back that wise people will emerge from this pandemic with a different perspective on life, while the unwise will go back to their normal way of thinking. My reason for tweeting this is that if you take a bit of time and look at the entire sum of this crisis that we're in, there is undoubtedly something that we should take away from this that changes us for the better. Now what exactly that may be is entirely up to us as individuals. I personally feel that for those of us that aren't accustomed to dealing with global crisis of this proportion should emerge from this with a different outlook on life. I'm sure that most of you have heard people that survived near death experiences say that they will never take life for granted again. I'm sure that there are people out there that have actually contracted the virus and survived can probably give their own testament on that. However, even for those of us that haven't contracted Covid-19 can give our own story on how this is one of those situations that altered our lives for a period of time. I encourage everyone to start viewing the challenges in you life as an opportunity for learning and growth.

Well that is pretty much all I have for the topic on why challenging moments should bring the biggest learning experiences. I hope that I was able to present this topic in a manner that was understandable for everyone that read it. I also like to thank those of you that once again stopped by for another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I also hope that you all are staying strong and staying safe during this uncomfortable period of time that we're in. If anyone has any comments or feedback to contribute, please feel free to do so in the comment box. You can also reach out to me on Twitter at the handle @BradrickH if you'd like. Well I hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend. Stay strong, and use the judgement that is right for you when it comes to this pandemic. I'll see you all in the next installment. Take care everyone, and peace out!


©2020 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.

The Importance Of Loving Yourself Through The Challenging Times You Will Face.

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There's a popular phrase that most of us have heard in regards to guarantees in life. The phrase was penned by Benjamin Franklin in a 1798 letter that he wrote that stated that; "But in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Of course people have put their own spin on this phrase throughout the years, but the belief of the certainty of death and taxes is something that the world tends to hold near and dear. There is another guarantee that most of us can probably attest is a fact when it comes to life. What is the guarantee that I would be referring to here? I'm referring to the idea that we as individuals are always going deal with facing challenges in our lives. Though the individual challenges we will encounter may be different and unique as we are as people, the fact remains that we all are going to have circumstances and obstacles that we're going to have to overcome in our lives. Most of us can probably point to an instance or multiples times in our lives where something that challenged us in some form caused us to get down on ourselves. Maybe whatever we were dealing with was something that didn't think we could be past, or may have been something that questioned our belief in ourselves. In worst case scenarios, we may have dealt with something that we felt was so insurmountable that we began to hate our lives and ourselves. Facing challenge is something that is a part of life, which means that it is quite normal. However, the idea of losing faith in ourselves the point where we began to hate ourselves is far from normal. We have to know and understand the importance of loving ourselves through the challenge times we face.

Yo, yo, yo! What's happening good people? This is Brad H. reporting once again, and you are now tuned into another installment of 'Brad H's Perspective'! I am back once again to bring another topic that will hopefully serve as inspiration for us all. Hopefully all has been good and well in everyone's lives since the last topic. So for this week's soapbox section, I want to get back to some sports related talk. Now I know those of you that are football fans are probably getting super hyped now that we're less than a month away from the start of the NFL season. Now for those of you that may not know already, I am a Dallas Cowboys fan. If you aren't a fan of or follow the Dallas Cowboys, you may not know about this, but Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliot is currently holding out for a new contract. Now I'm bringing this up because I had some friendly banter last night with a good friend of mine about this situation. His position was that Elliot should honor his contract and report, which I do agree with. However, I personally feel that there is nothing wrong with a running back of Elliot's caliber getting more money. He's the focal point of the teams offense, and he has more than exceeded what he was expected to do on the field. All of this begs the question: should we be pro team, or pro athlete? Now as a fan of the Cowboys, I want him on the field. However, I can't help but think that what if he suffers a career altering or worse yet career ending injury, and he never is able to get the money he deserves for what he's done? People need to remember that anything can happen to any athlete playing a physical sport, and nothing is always guaranteed to come to them if they get hurt to the point where they can't play anymore. So for those of you that are sports fans, should players honor their contracts regardless if they feel they're being underpaid for what they've done, or do they have the right to demand more? Would love to see what you all think. Alright, now that I've gotten on my soapbox, lets go ahead and talk about this week's topic of the importance of loving yourself through you challenges that you will face.

I want to preface this week's topic by saying that if anyone that is reading this post is having problems to the point where you feel like you no longer want to live, please try and seek some professional help for what you're dealing with. I'm no doctor or mental health expert, so I hope that if this happens to apply to anyone reading that you would please get the proper help if necessary. Besides giving a disclaimer, I wanted to bring that up because this week's topic will be bringing up the idea of engaging in suicide. Now I realize that the word suicide is a sensitive word that can spark emotions in everyone. However, I think it is important to address it in regards to the topic that I'm covering this week. Furthermore, suicide is unfortunately something that is prevalent in today's society. Now I brought up earlier that we all have challenges within ourselves that will lead to us getting down on ourselves. None of us can go through this life without ever experiencing any sort of failures. It's just something that is feasible to do. I've talked about failure in previous installments that I've written on here, and I think it is important to address it as often as I can. My reasoning for this is due the thought that failure in today's society is often looked down upon so horribly. I'm in no way saying that failure is something that we should celebrate or be happy about. However, what I am trying to say that failure is only a state of mind, and it doesn't have to define the moments in our lives. Also, if put into the proper context in regards to whatever it is that we're seeking to accomplish, failure can be an opportunity to learn from and become better. Failure itself isn't always bad, but unfortunately the world we live in doesn't see it that way.

Now for most of us that find ourselves in those challenges times that we're referring to this week, we often will seek out the counsel of other people. Now depending on who and what type of counsel that you may be seeking in these situations, this is definitely a good thing right? However, many of us fall into the habit of always thinking that people will always be there to assist us in the challenges we face. Most of us have what we call a "go to" person that we call first when we're in trouble. Again, there isn't anything wrong with seeking help, that is until the "go to" doesn't pick up. Now this is something that probably won't happen often, and if you're lucky enough in this life to find someone that will always be there for you, cherish them cause it is rare these days. Regardless of that, there is always a risk that other people won't be able to help you through your issues, as there isn't much in this life that is guaranteed. Now the problem with relying on people to help guide us through our personal issues is that many of us often attach too much of our self worth to others being there for us. It's the same concept as being in love with someone to the point where you begin to love them more than you love yourself. It's that emotional attachment that causes us to do and act in irrational ways that we probably would never do if that attachment wasn't there. This can create a life of toxicity to the point where we're not properly attending to our own well being, and it is in these times where we can find ourselves not caring how our life goes. Now there are all type of ways that a person can self deprecate themselves, but the worse is what I mentioned earlier about the idea of a person taking their own life. Now again I'm no expert, but I think that much of these thoughts and feelings stem from a lack of self love.

So why is it important that we continue to love ourselves through the challenges we face? There are a number of reasons why this is important, but from my perspective, it comes down to what I have mentioned throughout this topic in regards to nothing being guaranteed. As much as I dislike saying what I'm about to say, there is no such thing in this world as a "go to" person. Anything and anyone that we're emotionally attached to can leave or be taken away from us at anytime. No matter what comes in goes in this life, the only true thing that you can count on as long as you're alive is yourself. Furthermore, life can often present challenges in our lives that can bring us to dark places. As I pointed out earlier, those dark places can often cause people to lose hope to continue living; hence why I brought up the act of suicide earlier. Challenges and issues in our personal lives are all parts of this life that we will never fully escape as long as we're breathing. However, what we can do is reinforce ourselves that regardless of what we're dealing with in our lives, we matter and are important. From my perspective, loving yourself doesn't mean that you have to always go around touting how important that you are. I believe it means knowing that regardless of what life throws at you, you know that there is a way to overcome it. Now I'm in no way saying that we should go through life being nomads. It is indeed true that we will always need other people in this life. However, when you love yourself through and through, you're more cautious about who and what you allow into your self. This especially applies when we're facing challenges, so make it a priority to love yourself through whatever you face. Don't allow the hurdles and obstacles of life to bring you to a dark place where there is often no return from.

Well that's all that I got for this week's topic on the importance of loving ourselves. I hope that those of you that read this found it both enjoyable and helpful. I'm going to go ahead and sign off for now, but thank you once again to those of you that came by for another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! If any of you have any feedback to contribute or feel that I overlooked something in regards to this topic, please don't hesitate to hit up the comment section. Any and all feedback is welcome here. You can also follow and connect with me on Twitter at the handle @BradrickH. Well I hope you all are having a great weekend so far, and I hope that we all have an even greater week ahead. I'll see you all in the next topic. Take care everyone, and peace out!

©2019 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.