By: Alvie Hafen

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” Everyone has heard this so called cliché. However, it is not a cliché it is a fact and psychologists call it adversarial growth. Adversity is everywhere in our everyday life. Do you embrace the struggle and challenge or do you stay in your comfort zone?

The problem with staying in your comfort zone in the gym, in life, and in your job is that it prevents you from growing and reaching your full potential.

Take your experience with Welded for example. When you first started you had some pretty immediate results. Your PRs went up, your row and run times became faster, and you could do more pushups. Day 1 of Welded threw you outside your comfort zone and you became stronger and better from it.

Do you continue to push yourself outside your comfort? In the gym do you add those few extra pounds to the bar? Do you push the pace on that last 400m? Do you do the extra mobility for your body? If you want to continue to push the limits of your body and become stronger and faster you must continue to push outside your comfort zone. YOU must struggle consistently. Why? Because struggle is what makes us better – the struggle itself is a journey.

The same can be said for our job or career. Steve Jobs faced adversity. He was fired from Apple, before he returned and reshaped the entire tech industry. You might know J.K. Rowling as the only billionaire author. Before she became that she was fired from her job as a secretary. Both these people faced adversity and struggled, but through these struggles became some of the most successful people in their field.

So next time adversity knocks on your door, answer it. Face it head on and struggle through, knowing you will be better on the other side.

“Sometimes when you’re in a dark place you think you’ve been buried, but you’ve actually been planted.”
– Unknown