Discouragement

“We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed….” (2 Cor. 4:8-9) How did this writer overcome his discouragements?

There are many reasons—many not of our own making—to be discouraged from time to time. A ‘down’ economy, unemployment, natural disasters, health issues, persecutions—you name it. Yet many people adjust to difficult circumstances and realities whereas others let down, get defensive, give in, or give up. Often they come out the better. What is the difference between those who make it and those who don’t?

Surprisingly, it is not just the highly intelligent who make it through (for many don’t) and the less well-educated or disadvantaged who inevitably become ‘distressed,’ ‘in despair,’ ‘forsaken,’ and ‘destroyed.’ Debilitating discouragement cuts through all levels.

Of course a person should do all he/she could to get more education, develop needed skills, create a reserve (money, food, fitness and health, etc.) for challenging times. But there are a few simple things that I have seen people do that help winners pick themselves up and get moving again.

Let me give you a few favorite examples of the truth uttered by many that ‘Life is 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent how we respond to it.’

The first is the experience of General George Washington in the Revolutionary War who lost eight battles in a row before winning the 9th which won the war for our independence from Great Britain.

The second is the tremendous 1972 Olympic Games gold-medal victory of American 800 meter sprinter Dave Wottle who entered the race with a sore foot and came from last place to first overcoming everything that the great Kenyan runners could do to block him (watch it on YouTube).

My favorite story is about Thomas Edison who devoted 10 years and all of his money to developing the nickel-alkaline storage battery at a time he was almost penniless. One night the cry of ‘Fire!’ echoed through the building in which he was working. Everything he was working on went up in flames. He was 67 years old—no age to begin anew. His daughter was frantic wondering if he were safe, if his spirits were broken, how he could handle such a crisis at his age. She saw him running toward her. He spoke first. He said, “Where’s your mother? Go get her and tell her to get her friends. They’ll never see another fire like this as long as they live!” At 5:30 the next morning, with the fire barely under control, he called his employees together and announced, “We’re rebuilding.” Then, almost as an afterthought, he added, “Oh, by the way, anybody know where we can get some money?” Virtually everything we now recognize as a Thomas Edison contribution to our lives came after that disaster.

Many, by just changing their outward approach to their situation also create internal changes for the better and thereby give themselves an edge on others who find themselves in the same situation. A positive attitude, a smile on one’s face, enthusiasm, a proactive approach, a reaching outward, a hope and faith in the future can be just what one needs as the catalyst to get things rolling again.

Almost always, those who are successful in overcoming adversity or discouragement focus on a goal outside themselves and they are not afraid to take help themselves and look for every opportunity to give help to others.

Nazi concentration camp survivor Viktor Frankl gives some timeless advice of getting through the worst that life can give you gained from excruciating experience, in his modern classic, Man’s Search for Meaning. Read it.

I end today’s essay with the lyrics to Frank Sinatra’s song ‘That’s Life’:

“I’ve been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet,
A pawn and a king;
I’ve been up, down, over and out
And I know one thing.
Each time I find myself flat on my face,
I pick myself up and get back in the race!
That’s life
I tell ya, I can’t deny it . . .
I’ve thought of giving up but my heart just wouldn’t buy it . . . .

Always remember, trouble has no necessary connection with discouragement.