When we encounter difficulties in life, our natural reaction is to avoid them rather than push through them. Years of evolution have programmed our brains to seek the comfort of safety & avoid the discomfort that comes with new & testing experiences. To be safe, we often forget the Reasons Why Struggling Is Important.
When you are physically or psychologically afraid, the division of the brain in charge of dealing with emotions (limbic system) is activated before the reasoning part of the brain (neocortex). Overwhelming fear activates a fight or flight instinct, making you act before you think.
Reasons Why Struggling Is Important
1. Struggle Develops Resourcefulness
Resourcefulness is the capability to seek & utilize available resources to achieve a particular objective. Accomplishing your dream goals may seem unfeasible when resources are restricted, but this also offers an opportunity to be resourceful & make the best of what you are left with.
Being unrelenting in times of struggle inspires you to think outside the box & try new & different approaches to deal with the problem. Growing above the struggle of limited opportunities can teach you to become more resourceful & increase your problem-solving skills for the future life.
Being resourceful will not only help you attain your objectives but will also help you to manage difficult situations better.
2. Struggling Helps You To Discover Your Strengths & Weaknesses
One of the vital Reasons Why Struggling Is Important is it helps you to discover your strengths & weaknesses. You must struggle to determine what you are good at or bad at. For example, if you are struggling with your finance & trying to find out ways to extra income, it might show you need to improve at managing finance but have the initiative to amend it.
Discovering your weakness might help you think about ways to overcome it. You might be extra cautious about your finances after the experience & try to manage them better.
Struggle also emphasizes your strengths. It is your strengths that helped you to win over the struggle & hard times. You can re-discover those traits indispensable to overcome any challenge & attain your objectives.
3. Struggling Creates Problem-Solving Skills
Struggling with challenges equips us with the ability to solve problems. Through the course of struggling, we can develop creative problem-solving skills. We can learn that if one solution doesn’t work, it’s okay to go back to the basics & try another. We can learn which strategies work & which don’t, & we can flex our analytical thinking muscles.
Without struggle, we never meet problems to work through. If everything is smooth sailing, we won’t practice the process of brainstorming, developing an idea, evaluating why an idea didn’t work & repeating it.
Adopting & excelling in this process is vital for success in school, work, & life. Even when a strategy doesn’t work, we can realize that mistakes & failures are valuable lessons & inevitable parts of life.
4. Struggle Teaches You To Prioritize & Helps You To Realize What Is Really Vital
Prioritization means deciding what matters most. When you face various tasks & responsibilities, they will demand your time, attention & resources. Though everything may seem vital, only some tasks need your immediate attention.
Being able to prioritize will save time you would have wasted otherwise jumping between tasks. Prioritizing is a skill that requires regular practice. It needs you to know what matters & recognizing what can be set aside. Struggles in life will teach you to get rid of things that don’t have value.
When your financial situation is positive, you will find joy in engaging in activities like pubs, shopping, traveling, dining in fancy restaurants, & attending events. However, when you are struggling with finance, you may not prioritize these activities. You can direct your resources (time, energy, attention, money) to more vital things.
When you’re struggling, how you adapt or manage will decide whether you will bounce back quickly. Self-awareness is crucial to develop emotional intelligence. Learning to track your thoughts & emotions will help you to understand yourself better & accept who you are.
5. Struggling Promotes Growth Mindset
The process of managing challenges & growth mindset activities promotes a growth mindset. A growth mindset shapes our responses to hardship both in our personal & professional life.
Through struggle, we realize that our brains can develop, they can do difficult things, & that mistakes are learning opportunities. As a result, we embrace struggle instead of being afraid & avoiding it.
Instead of trying to “look cool” or appear perfect, we learn that we can develop & nurture our abilities through practice & effort. The process and the struggle it demands are even more valuable than the result.
Struggle teaches us the true value of hard work & dedication. We develop the confidence to deal with the struggles that are a natural & inevitable part of life.
6. Struggling Helps Us To Manage Emotions
Struggle produces common emotions like frustration, sadness, disappointment, & often anger. While these emotions aren’t exactly enjoyable, we all face them often. Struggle teaches us how to manage these emotions healthily.
We shouldn’t conceal our feelings, & we shouldn’t use them as an excuse to lash out. Instead, we should admit & accept emotions without judgment, & we should employ strategies like deep breathing, journaling, meditating, or mindfulness that help us to manage difficult emotions. Struggle provides a vital opportunity to learn these essential skills.
7. Struggle Can Help You To Stay Grounded
Struggle & hardships can make you feel like things are getting out of control. When things are bad, maintaining a calm brain is challenging as your mind is anxious. If you don’t have experience dealing with hard situations, you can easily end up in a mess.
The Covid-19 pandemic is a perfect example of how difficulties & uncertainty can cause fear & panic. It has taught us that everyone reacts differently in difficult & daunting situations.
While the pandemic is undoubtedly a challenge, it is also an opportunity. If you can stay grounded, you will come out of the crisis wiser & stronger & can conquer similar challenges in the future. The Covid-19 crisis has not made the world vulnerable & erratic. It has only shown how indecisive & erratic life is.
Challenges & change are unavoidable. The best you can do is welcome them & let them be your teacher. Managing challenging situations will help to keep you grounded as you recognize The Value of Struggle.
Final Words
Throwing resources at a particular problem often hides incompetence & thwarts creative solutions. Research shows people who struggle with a problem without seeking help from others show better performance the second time they face the difficulty than those who didn’t struggle & asked for help. Experts call this incident a productive failure.
When you face hardships and failures, you shouldn’t feel pessimistic or depressed. Consider each impediment as an opportunity to learn more & develop yourself. Discover where you made a mistake & make modifications to prevent the problem from returning in the future.
It may often happen that future seems bleak & you can’t see any hope. Always stay strong, be resilient, never lose spirit & remember the Reasons Why Struggling Is Important.
FAQs
Q: As pointed out in ‘Final Words,’ shouldn’t I ask for help when I am struggling?
A: Try your level best first. Surrendering & seeking help at the very sight of struggle is not productive.
Q: Why we don’t like to struggle?
A: Nobody wants hardships. But life can’t always be smooth sailing. Unpredictable challenges are a part of it. Struggling is sometimes good. There are several Reasons Why Struggling Is Important.
Q: Does the struggle always ensure victory?
A: With enough dedication, effort & planning, anyone can be victorious regardless of the level of struggle.
