Why is it that when we look back on our lives, it's never the easy days or the simplicity.

It's not the calm that changes our reality or makes us who we are.

Don't get me wrong, calm and simplicity, they're wonderful, but they're not transformative. And why would

they be? Why would we change or seek to obtain more without a reason or incentive? It's times of

struggle, of turbulence. It's when life was hard that we had to rethink who we are.

Reshape the way we look at the world. Because without chaos, you don't get calm.

Without the storm, you don't get those crazy neon colors and golden rays it leaves as it passes by. In order to triumph in any capacity

or any area of life, there's always a sacrifice that must be made. The adversity is the

fire that forges the iron. There's a saying hard times create strong men.

Strong men create good times.

Good times create weak men and weak men create hard times.

It's a cycle.

This is generally used in a sociopolitical sense and I think in a lot of ways it applies today,

but where I've really found it useful,

where I've found value in it is at the personal level.

Because what I've noticed

is that growth also appears to have a cyclical nature.

And when we're in a rough situation or overcoming an obstacle,

we have to push, we fight, we grow.

Sometimes without even realizing it, we achieve a result, and by default, this transformation

that in one way or another makes us something new.

But then it becomes easy to level out, right?

...