How Do We Find Strength In Difficult Times

We’ve all been through times when we felt like  the weight of the whole world was on our shoulders  and it was very heavy.

We have certainly seen this phenomenon in others. We have seen it on their faces, in their gestures, in their hands, in their pride,  in an aura of pain that left their souls.

We’ve also seen people who fell and didn’t allow themselves to be defeated and also people who, by way of contrast, made  excuses when the going got tough.

There are those who find strength from within and triumphantly bring out the illuminated smile of a skilled player;  a player who knows to save the best card for last so that the game turns in his favor. Even if it looks like he’s going to lose, he can turn it around.

It’s not that these people are incredibly strong or that they shield their feelings or hide their pain. These people just have a genuine commitment to making the most of their lives.

During difficult moments, these people, just like you and me, would  rather just close their eyes and let themselves fall. They want to give up with the hope that at the end of the tunnel there is a waterbed on which to rest until their strength returns. But they don’t.

Finding this foothold is a difficult task for many. Imagine a single mom with two kids who just lost her job and can’t find a new job.

At the beginning, of course, she will look for a job with an illusion that has not yet been tarnished by the ravages of time. But if she doesn’t find anything, this illusion will end and she’ll wonder why she keeps fighting if nothing improves the next day.

She is probably thinking about her children at that moment. The love that transcends the mental boundaries of those who, at other times, would surrender to it. She will feel that there is no other way, no other way and that she will never give up when the most precious thing in the world depends on her.

Interestingly enough, in these situations, a strange way of thinking emerges called the  “gambler’s fallacy” . What is this false belief?

The person who thinks according to this line of reasoning thinks, like a card player, that the fact that he has already been through a lot ensures that he will be lucky the next time. It is this assessment of probability that ensures that there is hope and that the struggle continues.

At other times  , we find strength in the sacrifices we make. This happens during those moments when we think that everything we’ve invested  and everything we’ve built becomes the reason we can’t give up. In such cases, we can assume that we decided long ago not to give ourselves any other option, no matter how bad the situation got or how dangerous the road was.

In this way we have already evaluated the risk of the path we had chosen and at that point we accept it as the fate of our principles,  whether it was our greatest victory or our most disastrous defeat.

In a way, these invisible, heartbreaking and sincere ways are what protects our hearts from the cold, even if it seems to penetrate to the bone.