‘Stand strong, stand firm, and nothing will sway you’
-Some idiot
We remember those words of our fathers, or forefathers saying ‘be strong, be firm, and you will reach your goal in the end’. When you stand firm you are like a lighthouse in a stormy shore, a monument to persistence.
Now that sets me to think. Is this the best way to progress in life? Is this the road to becoming a better person? I honestly think it certainly isn’t.
A lighthouse, thought bright, sits alone amidst the storms and beating of the waves. It can do nothing but stay there, in waiting, until its foundation falls from underneath it by the power of change. It will then be nothing but a memory of distant past.
Whereas it’s good to be firm in your convictions, it’s best to be smart, to study, to read situations carefully and adapt.
Adaptation is defined as the changes in an individual organism over the course of its existence that makes it more suited to the environment. Adaptation does then help one survive.
Not only that, adaptation does let you not just go by in life, it helps you enjoy it with minimal struggle. Difficulties we have, hardships we live through, but we shouldn’t struggle, we should live and enjoy our life with its ups and downs.
Athletes train hard, day by day, and they certainly become strong enough to reach their desired goal. In order to become stronger, however, they need to adapt. They modify their programs so that they may be able to perform better.
Many people say ‘this is the way I am, and whoever doesn’t like it, can **** himself’.
Sad, isn’t it, that with so many advances today, with so much to see and experience in the World there are those who still want to be Iron Men; these unwavering, unflinching, unyielding “strong” people who can withstand any and all things.
Lesson learned: Every Iron Man, in time, gets rusty
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2 comments:
The willow endures the roughest winds, because it knows how to bend. Flexibility is also key in physical training, lest we tear or damage our muscles and tendons.
As you point out, the same principle applies to us emotionally. Martial arts and tai chi often mimic the smooth flow of water, because the ancient Chinese respected water as a flexible yet incredibly powerful force.
Flexibility is not a sign of weakness. But even if it were, as it says on the wall of my gym, "Never let weakness convince you that you lack strength."
I agree with both of you: Adaptation is key, but what about being firm in our beliefs to adapt? Does that go against the idea of adaptation? Or should we adapt our ideas of adapting meaning to disregard it completely or maybe to become evolutionary in our method of adaptation.
Regardless of how we think of it, I think that your adaptation, your change, will make you a stronger person. I think you've adapted by facing your fear, and when we face our fears, "we gain strength, courage, and confidence in the doing." That, to me, is the definition of adaptation.
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