Turning Adversities into Opportunities: Navigating Life’s Storms with Resilience and Purpose

Adversities or vicissitudes are not new to mankind. They have been there from the foundation of life. Nations, institutions, and everybody, no matter the realm of operation, experience one form of adversity or another.

Adversities are like storms in our lives. They are not meant to destroy but to toughen us. It is for us to see the opportunities in the storms of life, take them, and run with them. According to Dieter F. Uchtdorf. “Your reaction to adversity, not adversity itself, determines how your life’s story will develop.”- Dieter F. Uchtdorf. The question is, how do we harvest the gains from adversities and vicissitudes of life?

We sometimes compare ourselves to those making it in our areas of interest and are full of regrets because we are better off than those in that field from all available benchmarks. But were we not told in the scriptures that our strength and skills alone might not take us to the top? This was well captured in Ecclesiastes 9:11, “The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill, but time and chance happen to them all.”

If pilots think about the enormity of storms, usually called turbulence in flying, many would rather be road drivers or take other vacations. Indeed, some pilots in training would have quit only to end up as nobodies because instead of forging ahead in other areas, they decided to busy themselves looking for the witches and wizards in their lives. Some complicate their lives more by running around spiritual houses looking for scapegoats. Of course, they will get answers from many fake oracles and diviners worldwide.

In contrast, some would have quit but became successful because they kept trying to rediscover who they were in other fields. So, tenacity, resilience, a positive attitude, a change of mindset, elements of good luck, and the favor of God are some things we need to take the opportunities in the adversities we confront.

Many who ventured into carpentry quit because of the hard work involved. Some because of the pains of hammering, nailing, or sawing their hands. But carpenters made pieces of furniture in palaces and government houses worldwide.

Many had to quit tailoring because it was not fast in return on investments. While some are leaving, others refuse to leave. They persevere and face challenging times. Today, they sew dresses for kings, queens, presidents, governors, and celebrities.

The difference between the quitters and the winners is possessing the ability to analyze and appropriately diagnose the inherent challenges in a particular adversity, and seek remediation strategies. If one door is closed, find another that is open. But before seeking alternatives, review your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT). That is a difficult task because one might be introspectively doing so from ground zero. Without a shoulder to lean on or meeting someone who cares, one might slide into drugs, gambling, or even giving up on life. That is precisely where we are in Nigeria today. Unfortunately, some are so brainwashed that they hate those God might have positioned to help them. Wherever and whenever you come across such people, who may even prove to know more than yourself, all they need is empathy.

Several drinking, smoking, gambling, and 419 cells exist and are swelling in numbers worldwide. Many young people and children are dying from gang actions, cultism, drug addiction, crimes under the influence of drugs, etc. If we cannot physically help them, let us from now on begin to direct our prayers toward those societal covens for God to deliver them and arrest the cartels.

If we did not care about them now and just minding our businesses because we are made, we might be unable to sleep when they turn full-cycle and perpetually awake. I come in peace.

Grace and peace!!!