The School of Greatness - 555 Your Struggle Is Your Strength

Episode Date: October 27, 2017

"Use your struggles to become your strength -- to become your story." If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes and more at http://lewishowes.com/555

This is 5-Minute Friday, episode number 555. Your struggle is your strength. Arnold Schwarzenegger said, Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength. I've had a lot of different struggles growing up.

Originally, it was from feeling picked on, feeling bullied, picked last, feeling very insignificant and insecure in school. I was in the bottom of my class. It was hard for me to read and write and comprehend what was being talked about in class, what was in the textbooks. And I was a horrible test taker. I struggled. I constantly struggled. I struggled all through elementary school, middle school, high school. I had tutors. I was in the special needs classes and it made me feel very insecure inside. It made me feel very insignificant inside. I struggled, but here's what happened. I realized that this was something that was hard for me to overcome. No matter how much I studied, how much I read, how much I practiced, how many different

tutors I had, I wasn't getting that much better. And I put all my self-worth and my value in school, in how poorly I was doing in school. And sometimes we get to realize what our struggles actually are, and we may never overcome them. We may never get great at certain struggles we have in life, but we can learn to embrace them and use them as part of our story. We can learn to overcome them in different ways. You see, for me, since I wasn't good at books and at school and at learning and comprehending in textbooks, I learned to communicate in different ways. I learned to use my body through sports and became a great athlete through athletics. I learned to listen to people. I learned to ask better questions. As opposed to having all the answers, I became the person that was fascinated

with everyone else. I used my struggle and turned it into something else, into a power greater than my struggle, into my strength. And just like resistance and pain in the gym makes us stronger, pain in life is sent to us to make us stronger, to build our character, to make us better, and to show us what we're made of, to show us what we're capable of, because a life without struggles is an uninspiring life. It's one that's hard to relate to and have compassion for when you have no struggles. And we can choose to use our struggles to make us stronger, to become part of our story that lifts others up, or we can choose to be defeated by our struggles and allow it to keep us down. Decide to make your pain your power.

Learn to see the pain in your life as a powerful thing for you. Think about a challenging time in your life right now. And how despite the difficulty, it made you stronger in some way. Better in some way. Maybe more compassionate. Maybe more determined. Maybe you decided to look at things differently and not focus on your struggle and start focusing on what could be your strength. I've learned about myself so much with the struggles. I've learned to improve them

and try to get better in my struggles and to try to be mindful of my struggles. But I've also said, what can I continue to make my strengths? How can I grow in other areas that will actually move my dreams forward, that will get closer to my dreams for me, and that will help me live a healthier, happier, more fulfilled lifestyle? That's what it's all about. Don't focus on your struggles and allow them to take you down. Focus on your strengths. Use your struggles to become your strengths, to become your story, to become more connected to people

because now you're relatable. You're approachable. You're someone they can relate to and connect with. Ernest Hemingway said that the world breaks everyone and afterward, some are strong at the broken places. Focus on your strengths, embrace your struggles, and continue to get better every single day. If you enjoyed this one, make sure to share it with your friends, lewishouse.com slash 555. I love you guys and you know what time it is it's time to go out there and do something great Outro Music