That Which Does Not Kill Us Makes Us Stronger

I can not say my life is a bed of roses. Each day I wake up ready to tackle the day ahead, then the minute I step into the office, my 300 or so emails in my inbox become my focus for the hour or so ahead. If you do the statistics on 300 emails, there is going to be a percentage of those that are tasks to be done, meetings to be had, questions that need answering and issues that need addressing.

That is all before 7am in the morning.

As I go through each day, I become excited about new projects, high impact marketing campaigns, new brands and big wins. These are the things I live for and ensure that no day in the office feels like a job.

Then of course there are the other things; issues with employees, processes not followed, deadlines to meet, errors, accounting, legal and just everyday things that tend to go wrong just when you need them to go right.

Perseverance through tough times is imperative to moving ahead, kicking goals and living a full and productive life.

Everyone experiences difficulties at some stage in life, but it is how we adapt to changes or crises in our lives such as death, tragedy, loss of a job, financial problems or things just not going our way that really shape who we are.

I am a strong person in general, after all I grew up with four rugged brothers who showed tough love both on and off the field. "Water works" never faired well in our home, nor did any sympathy be shown when I fell over - and it is this grounding that I have taken into life - rightly, or wrongly.

When things are almost unbearable, its important to dig deep and take a reality check.

To put some perspective on things:

• Each year 8 million people die from cancer worldwide
• 2.6 million children die as a result of hunger related causes
• 842 million people don't have enough to eat

If we have enough food to eat, clean water and good health, then we are 80% there. Everything else is a bonus.

Accepting change as part of life and coming to terms with circumstances that we cannot change will put you in good stead for tackling problems in the future. Having goals in place each day and maintaining a positive view of life is also imperative to "making us stronger" in times of diversity.

Friedrich Nietzsche quote "that which does not kill us makes us stronger" is a mantra that each of us should always remember because we have every opportunity to be anything we want to be, its just a matter of how much we want it.