If you're prepared for the worst, you're well prepared
Are you avoiding the difficult things in life?
Back in school, I dreaded examinations, especially the O-levels Cambridge Exams (CIEs)!
I was in grade 9, my first year of O-levels, and we were about to give our CIEs for the first time. It was not just our first time as students; we were also the first class in our entire school to participate in Cambridge International Examinations, as our school had recently been registered with the British Council.
As you can imagine, the pressure was high!
All our focus and attention was on preparing for those exams. It was just then that our school decided also to conduct internal examinations. While that was good practice, it was terrible timing as it interfered with our preparation schedules.
While we were doing well in other subjects, we struggled with mathematics. Out of fear of scoring poorly in the exams, we requested our maths teacher to make the exam easy.
I still remember what he said that day, "How about you all prepare for the difficult questions, and I promise to make the exam easy."
Seriously??
At that moment, it felt like he was mocking us and did not understand where we were coming from.
We all exchanged glances, knowing deep down that we were all doomed. He was going to make the exam hard, as always!
Long story short, we spent the next few days entirely focusing on the seemingly complex chapters.
It turned out it wasn't as difficult as we thought, and we all passed the exam with surprisingly good grades.
Even though at that moment I never fully understood what he meant by what he said that day, it has stayed with me ever since.
The message was simple when we prepare for difficult things; they become easy.
As humans, we seek comfort. We avoid things that we don't like, that are difficult or cause discomfort.
Why do difficult things when we could choose the easy, less painful way out?
Difficulty and challenges are inevitable. Avoiding them doesn't make them go away; it only makes them worse. Hoping for things not to go wrong is not a great way to live because we'll always live in fear.
Doing the least and hoping for the best is like walking in the rain without an umbrella, hoping we don't get wet.
As last week's newsletter mentioned, being optimistic without factoring in reality will lead to disappointment; instead, one should be a realistic optimist, i.e. prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
In life, things don't always go as expected or planned, and when they don't, if we're unprepared, we wouldn't know how to react or handle the situation, creating panic, anxiety, and unnecessary stress.
There are no difficult tasks; you're either prepared or unprepared.
Accept the difficult things, but don't only accept them; embrace them. Because the difficult moments in life teach us the most valuable lessons, such as patience, humility, surrender, and gratitude, they help us tap into our potential and develop strength and resilience.
“Hard times are like a washing machine, they twist, turn and knock us around. But in the end, we come out cleaner, brighter and better than before."
Muskan Mangal
Cultivate the habit of LOVING the things you hate and doing the hard stuff. It will not only give you a sense of accomplishment but will also provide you with evidence that you can persevere through any difficult thing in life.
President John F. Kennedy said in his famous NASA speech of 1962:
"We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."
To achieve the things you’ve never had, you must do the things you’ve never done.
What is one difficult thing that you have been avoiding for a while?
What fears are preventing you from taking action?