What’s with human beings’ obsession with struggle?

Ask a person to tell you their defining life moments and nine times out of ten they will tell you about an obstacle they faced and how they overcame it. Read a traditional epic or quest, and you’ll discover a familiar theme of a hero facing adversity and then overcoming it. Ask a college student what they wrote about for their college essay and seven out of ten times they will tell you they wrote about a struggle they’ve had and how it made them stronger.  Humans are obsessed with stories of people overcoming hardship. Reading Jacob’s response to PTJ’s blog question for this week reminded me of just how far and ingrained is this obsession. In society, we have gotten to a point where we almost glorify adversity. This is reflected is mindsets where people believe that there are ‘benefits’ for going through persecution or challenges. In the words of Kelly Clarkson, “what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.”  Nowadays, it is not unusual to hear a high school senior expressing qualms about not getting into college because they haven’t faced a big enough challenge in their life to write about in their application. I do not mean to attack this mindset as wrong; rather I just mean to point it out as an interesting observation. As made obvious by many of my peer’s blogs this past week, there, of course, is truth to the idea that hardship makes a person stronger. Lessons are learned, skills are gain, and self-development often occurs. Nevertheless, as Jacob pointed out in his blog, it is dangerous to, as a society, to see these struggles as a positive thing, for then we risk minimizing the actual issue. In a way, it is even a perversion to another natural human desire for comfort and the elimination of hardships.  Futhermore, the obsession with challenges as an avenue for growth often causes other avenue’s for growth to be pushed to the side.  

Below are some questions to ask yourself to discover some other ways you’ve grown and developed into the person you are that don’t necessarily involve facing obstacles: 

1) What is your favorite memory from your childhood, and how has it defined you (your interests, outlooks, your assumptions)? 

2) What is something you are grateful to have (or have had), and how has it helped you function better in society? 

3)  Remember a time someone was kind to you, and how did it affect you? 

4) Name a goal you have/had, how you achieved it (or are working towards it), and how that goal has shaped you.