Using Adversity to Make you Stronger by Sheila Yonemoto

One of the key principles to making bones, muscles, and ligaments stronger, and balance better, is to stress the system slightly to trigger a response in the body to make stronger adaptations. The same can be said for mental toughness, thicker emotional skin, and problem solving skills. Situations in life can throw monkey wrenches in your pursuit of goals, and how you respond to those situations can stop you in your tracks or propel you into greatness. Often, I tell my patients to use an injury as a means to develop another quality in themselves. Sometimes the injury creates frustration, impatience and depression. I tell the patient to use this opportunity to develop patience, empathy, muscle strength in other parts of the body, and problem solving skills.

There was a time early in my life when I was working at a plastics factory which was dirty, noisy, and boring. I had to deal with sexism, racism and a low level of expectation. I hated it and could hardly wait to leave at the end of the day. People would make comments like, "don't work so fast, otherwise you run out of work and they will send you home." I actually welcomed that possibility. But what really got to me was when someone made this comment, "after you finish college, you won't be able to find a job and you will end up back here." That made me mad, and I was determined no such thing would happen to me. After a while, I decided to find things about the work that made me happy and to create games for myself to make the work more interesting. I ended up trying to beat my speed record with counting parts and taping up boxes for shipping. I realized I could make a boring task like trimming excess plastic off the knife handles into a wonderful time to daydream and fantasize about the future. Instead of being told to go home when I finished my work, my boss found other tasks for me to do, like washing windows (I got out of the noisy factory!) and even delivering documents to his attorney, giving me time to drive around the city with "leftover" time to sit at a park and feed the ducks. I also got to know some of my fellow workers who barely spoke English, but worked hard. And I even learned that one man was a doctor in his home country.

This experience gave me an appreciation for other people's situations, and to take nothing for granted. The experience also gave me a strong drive to do well in life and to treat other people with respect and encourage positivity. I have come to realize that any work, if it is honest and productive and contributes to the greater good, is worthwhile and you can make any situation enjoyable and meaningful if you give yourself a chance.