The two eternal sides of life’s daily allotment . . .

“Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.” 

Napoleon Hill

Success has never been an easy thing.

But neither has it ever been so complicated that it cannot be grasped.

The formula for success is simple, but its accomplishment is hard, very hard, and is never a matter to take lightly. Yet there is one thing about success that we all know: that’s it is humanly possible, and therefore is possible for you and I. 

Part of this journey to a higher expression of the self is taking what we’re given in life and transmuting it into results, growth, learning, and so on. We don’t exist in vacuum, and life can sling a lot at us. As the Roman philosopher Seneca said:

“One has to accept life . . . Things will get thrown at you and things will hit you. Life’s no soft affair. It’s a long road you’ve started on: you can’t but expect to have slips and knocks and falls, and get tired, and openly wish — a lie — for death.”

Life is not a clean business, it stings everyone — it’s how you respond, how you use it, that matters.

Not too long ago Jim Rohn boiled down history into a single sentence that also defines the two major things life throws at us ever single day. Want to know what your life will be? Want to know what life has always been like? It reads like this:

“Opportunity mixed with difficulty.”

That’s it.

That is life.

That is what each of us are handed every day.

• Opportunities to grow, to learn, to love, to laugh, to become, to be!
• Difficulties that test our courage, our faith, our dreams, our character, and our willingness to try.

As Jim Rohn said, this has never changed, and will never change. So one may ask, how will life change? The answer is simple: when you change.

When you change how you handle opportunity:

• How you handle your dreams.
• How you handle your goals.
• How you handle every new person you meet.
• How you handle your time.
• How you handle your wonderful gifts.

When you change how handle adversity:

• How you handle rejection.
• How you handle failure.
• How you handle loss.
• How you handle pain.
• How you handle unpleasant people.
• How you handle deadlines.
• How you handle your own mortality.
• How you handle ANYTHING that tests your mettle!

Wherever you are, whether you’ve made your dreams come true or if you’re still on your way or just starting, know that life will throw some form of difficulty at you today — and more importantly, that it will extend to you an opportunity to live well despite it. 

And don’t forget this: sometimes adversity is exactly what we need. As Larry Cornett, Ph.D. wrote, an easy life rarely inspires success. Adversity, in its own unique way, can be an opportunity in itself.

It can be fuel for greatness.

So as you go into your day today, you can do as Seneca said: to adopt a noble spirit, a spirit that befits a good person, so that you may stand bravely amidst all that life sends you. And likewise, in his words, you can also find a pleasure in it — the pleasure that comes from choosing not to be a victim:

“Let us overcome all things, with our reward consisting of moral worth, strength of spirit, and peace that is won forever once in any contest adversity has been utterly defeated.”  — Seneca

Today, face adversity with courage.

Today, seize opportunity boldly.

Here’s the hope we all have: that though life is hard, we can make something beautiful out of it anyway.