Estimated Reading Time: 8 mins
Introduction
Dr Myles Munroe once said, we have every skill we’ll ever need to live at our full potential — God has installed within each of us, every tool necessary for our lives to be a success.
I didn’t fully grasp what Dr Myles meant until I came up against life’s obstacles.
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Setbacks are disheartening and falling short can be discouraging when it happens, but nothing will ever matter more than the recovery we make.
Bouncing back from adversity can be taxing but it’s a silently profound way of building resilience — especially when we do so beyond our own expectations.
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Crafted Through Challenge
Picture your life as a mass pile of clay, not yet fully manufactured or designed to completion.
Once you’re born, your sculpture begins a slow formation across the span of your lifetime.
The manufacturer shapes each element of the design according to your life’s progression, and as you grow, the formation of your sculpture continues.
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Whenever difficulties of life arise, a piece of your sculpture is damaged and breaks away.
If you allow the misfortune to disrupt your mental and emotional state, cracks may begin to spread beyond the original point of damage.
These cracks worsen, gradually impeding the progress of your sculpture overall.
The longer you remain in a poor mental state, the more your sculpture becomes blemished.
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However, let’s say you later decide to work on renewing your perspective.
At the onset of further life chaos, you purposefully refuse to let the situation dictate your response as it once did.
Instead of impulsively reacting, you approach the issue with intention, focus, and resolve.
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The situation has then gone from bad, to effectively managed — and beneath it all, your levels of resilience have expanded.
This area of your sculpture may have suffered initial damage, but your actions initiated fortified repairs, that shaped it into a stronger, renewed version of its original form.
So, in simpler terms, what am I really trying to convey?
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The Silent Cost of Inaction
As children, we were all warned against touching a naked flame due to the risk of injury.
Yet it’s only when you feel a burn that the lesson resonates more profoundly.
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Bouncing back from challenges carries the same level of impact in shaping the way our lives look.
Acts of resilience create a ‘muscle memory’ in our mindset that elevates the quality of our responses to future challenges.
Ultimately, it reinforces our capacity to handle life’s future difficulties with confidence.
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Surrendering to life’s pressures encourages us to live in a subconscious state of reactivity.
It diminishes our sense of self, negatively impacts our wellbeing, and erodes our effectiveness while disrupting our overall quality of life.
We run the risk of sinking into distress, which can lead to mood disorders that may worsen and slowly stagnate our potential for meaningful growth.
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Our inability to tackle life’s problems is mirrored in the very sections of our sculpture that were once damaged and broken away.
The longer we maintain a defeatist approach, the more the damage extends through our sculpture, which represents our lives.
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Going through this cycle repeatedly, can negatively influence our perspective, and compromise our mental toughness.
Our self-esteem is then weakened directly impacting our ability to navigate through future situations.
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The Power to Pivot
Bouncing back from adversity fortifies our ability to recover from future hardship and allows productive personal growth.
Each time we grow in this way, we become mentally strengthened, better equipped, and increasingly capable.
This echoes the area of our sculpture that I described as fortified and renewed in appearance.
Because, in essence, that’s the depth of transformation that takes place.
We develop, and in turn, become more assured of ourselves.
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Practiced resilience encourages the unravelling of our true capabilities — qualities that already exist which need to be discovered.
Depending on the approach we choose to apply, will determine the extent to which we can develop our state of ‘beingness’.
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If we choose to let life happen to us, our mental wellbeing is left vulnerable and open to unnecessary disturbance.
However, if we determine to respond with intention and proactivity, we’ll better influence our environment, so life happens for us.
This encourages a cycle of habit that steadily builds our mental toughness, enabling us to handle difficulties better so thriving becomes our baseline.
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Summary
By consistently learning to bounce back, we become more accustomed to this version of ourselves — the way God intended it to be.
He’s given us the tools, but it’s our responsibility to discover them and learn how to use them for our benefit.
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Don’t be alarmed if you experience a little imposter syndrome as you begin approaching life differently.
Adapting our behaviour away from old norms often feels uncomfortable, but persisting is how we ensure our continued development.
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Repeatedly showing up with a productive mindset is what allows our lives to move in a more positive direction.
This level of mental fortitude distinguishes those who thrive in life from those who struggle through.
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I’ll end here by asking you one question.
One day, when you reach your seniors years, how do you want your sculpture to look?
Maybe you’re already on the right track, or perhaps there’s room for improvement?
The idea is to cultivate a fulfilling life by constantly practicing a progressive way of living.
In doing so, we fashion and form our experiences, while making full use of our potential.
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If there’s one thing I encourage you to take away today it’s this.
Life is meant to be lived, not tolerated.
So, no matter what comes your way or how intense it feels, always decide to bounce back.
We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 2 Corinthians 4: 8-9
