Life Is A Struggle: 5 Aspects Of The Struggle To Face Everyday Life
Life is a wonderful journey, an adventure full of experiences, emotions, and other extraordinary experiences. This does not mean that it is free of conflict, of internal and external struggles that will test you. The question is: Are you prepared for these struggles? In any area of our life, whether on a professional, personal or emotional level, we will encounter situations that will test us, what will happen will depend on our level of preparation.
The fighter’s mentality, thanks to its structure, along with the methodology applied to combat, is a great source of inspiration for everyday life. Just as “The Art of War” has been applied to the business world from a strategic point of view, the fighter’s mentality is an excellent resource to apply to our daily activity and the conflicts that arise before us. There are 5 aspects of the fight that will serve as a guide or tools to face the daily struggle: preparation, adaptation to unforeseen events, learning to take blows, understanding defeats as a learning experience and controlling your emotions.
1. Prepare yourself: train, study and educate yourself
Preparation is essential in any aspect of our life, we must be ready for what may happen, in the same way that the fighter trains to improve technique and condition his physique to be competitive in a fight. It is essential to prepare for life if we do not want it to defeat us at the first blow it hits us. Whether studying a career, learning a trade or practicing to be part of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, preparation, training and dedication will be the catalysts for opportunities.
If we want to take control of the narrative of reality that we are building, we must lay good foundations capable of resisting the inclemencies that may hit us. Any knowledge, skill or technique that we can learn, or train, will always be an asset that we can use as a resource in our favor. Knowledge, preparation, not only does not take up space, but it will help us conquer ours, and whatever happens, we will have resources to find it when things do not go as we have planned.
It is really frustrating when you design a plan and everything goes wrong due to unforeseen events, or simply due to issues that you had not taken into account. In the same way that a fighter draws up a combat plan and does not come out because the opponent anticipates his offensives, or has simply prepared better than expected, and must change in the next round to avoid being defeated, it is essential that we are willing to do the same.
This is where our preparation shows its value, the resources we have, thanks to our training, will help us adapt to give it a new approach. Are you going to give up, or are you going to dig into your resources and create a new plan for victory? The effort will pay off in the form of resilience if you are able to roll with the punches.
3. Learn to roll with the punches
Pretending that we are going to go through life as if it were the Garden of Eden is deceiving ourselves, we are going to receive blows and we better know how to take them. No matter how good a fighter is, he will receive some blows, the question is how he learns to take them to continue fighting. No matter how good, happy and wonderful our life is, the blows will come, it’s just a matter of time. Heartbreak, loved ones leaving us, failed exams, layoffs and bankruptcy, are just some of the eventualities that we will have to face at some point. They are blows, some harder, from which it is difficult to get up, some will make us question whether to continue believing in ourselves.
Knowing how to take a blow well can help us prepare a counterattack, change the angle or awaken our combative spirit. Things will happen, and sometimes they will knock us down, it is in our hands to decide what we do with it. Is there any other option but to continue fighting? The blows are part of our process, to a greater or lesser extent, but they should not stop us, because that is the path.
4. Accept defeats as part of your process
We always want to win, but that is not always possible. Sooner or later we will face defeat with what it means for the different strata of our being. Defeats are usually devastating moments, but once we pass the threshold of our ego we can see it as a learning opportunity. The feeling of failure is inevitable, but if we do not give up, if we continue forward it does not have to be such a thing. Failure is when we stop trying, when we do not accept defeat as part of our process.
Defeats strengthen our character and teach us our shortcomings, what we have yet to learn or what we have not correctly mapped into our internal structures. The factor that prevents us from winning, or achieving our objectives must become our priority. As the Stoic king Marcus Aurelius said: “The impediment to action advances the action. “Whatever gets in the way becomes the way.” The question is: Do you have the constitution of character to not give in to the feeling of failure and move forward?
5. Control your emotions
Our emotions help us keep ourselves safe, it is a safety guide that acts as a personal navigation map. It would be a compass that tells us if there is danger, pleasure, loss or injustice, but it is not the one who takes the wheel when making decisions, or at least it should not. A fighter feels, to a greater or lesser extent, fear before going up to fight (anyone who says otherwise is lying), what his body asks him to do is run away since he knows there is a risk, his body is alerting him of the risk. imminent danger.
One of the most important facets of a fighter is knowing how to control that fear in order to develop their skills during the fight without conditioning. In the same way they have to learn to control anger, since this can cause them to rush and make a mistake that can lead to defeat. Some time ago, during a training session, one of my coaches, after I suffered a couple of blows and saw how I was getting carried away by rage, he told me: “One hit, one hit.” The truth is that there is a lot of wisdom in that phrase.
This would mean (in his own words) that I focus on the present, that I do not let emotions guide my next movements because that is when mistakes are made. Keeping a clear mind while accepting what we feel with serenity will make us act according to our potential, since uncontrolled emotion eclipses rationality, making us make questionable decisions. Therefore, by controlling our emotions we will be conscious and rational, acting with determination, aligning ourselves with our values.
The world of wrestling can teach us many principles and values such as honor, loyalty, dedication and perseverance. Beyond values, it gives us a way to face the challenges of our daily lives with a solid mentality. It is evident that preparation allows us to build foundations on which to base our future, thanks to it more doors will open for us.
Thanks to the work, dedication and perseverance required by the preparation process, we will be given opportunities that would never have appeared without this dedication. We cannot rely on luck or destiny. Luck is something you get if you are prepared for it to find you, as Seneca said: “Luck is where preparation and opportunity meet.”
Opportunities do not appear, we create them and our preparation is what gives them shape, context and meaning. Destiny, on the other hand, is essentially the reality that we create with our actions. Contrary to popular belief, destiny is not written. It would be irresponsible and immature to leave everything in the hands of providence. Who is responsible for your life?
Life is a constant struggle, it is nothing that we do not know, the question is what attitude we face it with. Internal and external struggles will always be present that will test us, and how we face them will mark the course of our existence. If we want to take control of our life and bring out our maximum potential, we have the obligation to have the right mentality, otherwise life is going to give us one beating after another. Preparation, adaptation, acceptance and control are the fundamental premises by which we must govern ourselves to face life as a fighter. It is in your hands to fight or be subjected to what may happen.
