Overcoming Adversity
My high school basketball coach, Kyle Fowler, taught me a lot about overcoming adversity. In his messages during practice or before games, he often said the way you handle adversity will determine the outcome of the game.
In basketball, there’s constant adversity.
Balls get stolen. Passes get dropped. Momentum swings one way or the other. The other teams score.
The question is: What do you do when adversity comes your way?
The same is true in life. Adversity is constantly present.
Kids make a dumb mistake. Your boss drops a huge bomb on you. You spend money on something you shouldn’t and you can’t pay a bill. The diagnosis isn’t what you expected.
Life is a stream of adversity.
The question is: What do you do when adversity comes your way?
One of the reasons I loved playing sports growing up is that sports can be a microcosm for life; the way I attempted to deal with adversity in sports became a training ground for how to deal with adversity in life. Although I’m still a work in progress, here’s 4 things I do to overcome adversity.
One, Dig in.
Forgive me for another sports analogy, but whenever I was down to two strikes in baseball, I would “dig in.” Meaning, I would tighten my gloves, choke up a bit on the bat, focus in just a bit more intently, and literally “dig in” to the batter’s box.
Sometimes, to overcome adversity, we need to develop a bit of grit and toughness. Trust me, I’m not negative your experience or the adversity you are facing. I just think sometimes we need do “dig in” and toughen up a bit.
Two, Move on.
Oftentimes, we’re blindsided by adversity. There’s literally nothing we can do about. Other times, however, we bring it upon ourselves. I’ve learned, over the years, sometimes the best thing to do is to simply move on. How? Back in the day (another sports analogy), after a game, I would use the shower to “wash off” the game. If it was a bad game, I used those 10 minutes to simply move on. What good did it do to harbor it?
When I experience a tension at work or make a mistake at home, one of the best things I can do is to apologize and move on. Want to know how to make that situation worse? To harbor angst, bitterness, or shame. It’ll just drag on the adversity in unnecessary ways. Want to overcome adversity? Move on.
Third, Lean on each other.
Last, sometimes we simply need our teammates to help. There are situations we cannot overcome on our own. In those seasons, we need each other. Do you have a team of people you can call on when facing adversity? Do you have those people in your life you can lean on when facing a situation you can’t overcome on your own?
Fourth, pray.
Ask God for help. God says in Isaiah 41:10, “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
God knows how to overcome adversity, and He will get you through whatever you are facing.
Adversity is never desired, of course. But I’ve found the more I face adversity, the more I learn how to dig in, move on, and lean on others for support. And overcome whatever obstacle is in my life.