{"id":868,"date":"2016-08-10T18:30:53","date_gmt":"2016-08-10T10:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.roblilwall.com\/en-ae\/?p=868"},"modified":"2025-04-29T15:27:43","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T07:27:43","slug":"learning-embrace-challenges-not-begrudge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roblilwall.com\/en-ae\/blog\/2016\/08\/10\/learning-embrace-challenges-not-begrudge\/","title":{"rendered":"How I am learning to embrace challenges, not begrudge them."},"content":{"rendered":"

The beginning<\/strong><\/p>\n

17 years old, on the first day of my final year at high school, I was not excited. Throughout my life up to that point, I had not been a motivated person. I had done enough work to get by with average grades, but I had never put my heart into my studies. Whether that was the fault of uninspiring teachers, or my own laziness, I don\u2019t know. And now, as I entered the final year, I was dreading my A-levels. I was predicted two B\u2019s and a C: decidedly average grades. And I was not looking forward to all the work I was going to have to do to get even these.<\/p>\n

I set off to walk to the dinner hall with a friend. On the way, we stopped by at the computer department. On the wall I noticed some posters that the computer teacher had put up. One of them said this:<\/p>\n

The tougher the job, the greater the challenge, let’s look at tough jobs as challenges not problems. Let’s try for success.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And with volition on my part, something deep in my soul ignited. I saw that I had a choice about how I approached the difficult year that lay ahead of me. Another of the posters had a picture of a mountain on it, and in my imagination suddenly the hard year of studying and the mountain to climb were equated, and something like the following thought rolled out:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy don\u2019t I treat this upcoming year of hard work as a challenge, not a problem? Why don\u2019t I approach it in the same spirit in which I would climb a mountain [not that I was a mountain climber at the time, but I always enjoyed the small adventures I had been on as a child]. Climbing a mountain is something which is hard, yes, but when approached with gusto and enthusiasm and with a willingness to accept a bit of pain on the way, it is something which is also fun, interesting, and rewarding.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From that day forth, not really knowing what I was doing as I had never tried my hardest at anything before, I had a new attitude, and I flung myself into my studies. And after a couple of months, not only did my grades start to markedly improve, to my surprise, I started to enjoy my work. I ended the year with AAB (not the AAA I had hoped for, but still, a huge step in the right direction after the 17 previous years of mediocrity and laziness).<\/p>\n

An important lesson for a young man<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was an important lesson: we have a choice about how we approach difficulties and obstacles in life. When we have a literal mountain to climb we can choose to climb it resentfully, reluctantly, fearfully, half-heartedly, lazily, thoughtlessly, joylessly, unenthusiastically, lethargically, unintentionally and with much dread and fretting. If we take this approach, we will probably still get over the mountain in the end and continue on our way but, to put it mildly, we will not enjoy the experience, and we will not gain much from it.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, we can choose to embrace the challenge, and to climb the mountain with energy, enthusiasm, joy, exuberance, focus, intentionality, mindfulness, excitement, determination, perseverance, and courage. With a smile shining through our gritted teeth.<\/p>\n

There advantages of the latter approach are so obvious that they barely need stating:<\/p>\n