What Doesn’t Destroy You Makes You Stronger

Dear friend,

A realization I had: if it weren’t for my scars and suffering and difficulty in the past, I wouldn’t have become as strong as I am today.


Some examples:

  1. I’m grateful that I have had “haters” in the past. They tested my strength. Also the haters caused me to question my own motives in life, which was good, because it gave me MORE confidence in what I did! If nobody ever hated on me or questioned my motives, I don’t think I’d ever truly question and push myself.
  2. If I didn’t have a shitty dad who was abusive to my mother, I would have never become a good husband to Cindy. My understanding of what makes a “good” husband is simple; simply do everything opposite of my dad. In this sense, my dad was good for me; his “anti-model” was more effective in teaching me how not to act towards my wife.
  3. If I never grew up with financial difficulty, I would have never learned the value of a dollar. And also because I grew up so poor, it gave me the opportunity and the conditions of life in order to become an entrepreneur, because I knew my mom couldn’t give me everything I wanted. My superficial desire for cool clothes and stuff was actually good for me as a teenager; it gave me the hustle and drive to start working (tutoring), and to build my own computers and sell them for a profit.
  4. Without pain and struggle in life, you can never fully appreciate the fullest extent of joy in life. As Nietzche said, to feel the maximum pleasure in life, we also need to have felt the maximum pain in life.
  5. Post-traumatic growth: Witnessing domestic violence in my home (fortunately) didn’t fuck me up psychologically. If anything, it made me stronger. I learned to not complain about petty shit, because I knew what true pain and suffering was. The tricky thing about enduring trauma as a child; trauma helps some people grow stronger, and totally destroys the lives of others.
  6. Necessity is the ultimate motivator: JAY Z wouldn’t have become the ultimate hustler if he didn’t grow up poor in the Marcy projects. Elon Musk wouldn’t have the motivation to build Tesla, Space X, and Solar City if the environment on planet earth was all cheery. We should be grateful for the problems in our lives; it gives us a practical opportunity to actually build our strength, to pursue epic projects in life, and to test our limits!
  7. Challenge and stress are essential for growth: You could never get stronger deadlifting if you just kept lifting the same weight. You need additional difficulty to grow stronger! Similarly, if we never had challenges or difficulties in life, we would never have the opportunity to test and grow in strength!

As a simple conclusion, when you’re experiencing pain, difficulty, or challenge in life, ask yourself:

How will I become stronger from this pain, suffering, and difficulty?

BE STRONG.
ERIC