Author: Insight ADC
The wind will extinguish the candles, but it can also make the fire burn more and more vigorously.
01
The Canadian novelist George W. Bush J. Condon wrote a story in The Famous Writer.
The protagonist, Howard, is obsessed with fiction, but he has written several works in succession, all of which have been rejected by publishers.
With no financial resources, he had to get up early and return late, rely on odd jobs to survive, and can only write and submit articles in between part-time jobs every day.
But when he received the last rejection letter, he broke down.
Hating the unfairness of fate and the hopelessness of life, he took a gun from his pocket and pointed it at his head.
As he was about to pull the trigger, a man suddenly appeared, interrupted him and said, "My name is Mike, from the future, and I have traveled through the time machine to the present. ”
Howard stammered, "I... My name is Howard and I'm a writer. ”
Mike was shocked: "Howard? Was it the great writer Howard? It's a great honor to meet you in person. ”
Without waiting for Howard to react, Mike continued, "In our time, almost every student had to recite your work, and there are many squares named after you, thank you for your outstanding contribution to human literature. ”
Howard was just overjoyed at first, but then he wondered, "But my work has not been officially published yet." ”
Just when Howard felt that his life had turned around, the other two appeared, and they pulled Mike away.
It turned out that Mike had just escaped from the mental hospital.
How can the nonsense of a mentally ill person be believed?
Disheartened, Howard eventually pulled the trigger and left this world.
Police and reporters rushed to the scene and discovered Howard's will and found the truth about his suicide.
While sorting through the relics, the reporter discovered five of his novels and subsequently reported them.
After the death of writer Howard, he left five novels that made local headlines.
Many publishers have heard about it and regarded these works as their most precious.
Those five novels, once published, sold out and received numerous reviews.
Howard eventually became a well-known writer, but he himself could no longer see it.
02
After the Olympics, I saw a touching video.
Colombian weightlifter, Oscar Figueroa, is known as the worst Olympic athlete.
During his career, he participated in 4 Olympic Games.
The first time was in 2004, when he debuted on the stage of the Athens Olympic Games and won the fifth place, which is promising.
The second time was at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Fans had high hopes for him, but during a pre-match training session, he was accidentally injured, when the coach thought he had no future and abandoned him.
But he did not give up, and participated in the Olympics alone.
However, on the field, he did not lift the barbell three or four times in a row, and because of excessive force, the old injury recurred.
After returning to China, he was examined and found that his injuries were already very serious, and if he did not operate in time, he might be paralyzed in the second half of his life.
But after he received treatment and recovered physically, the golden age of the athlete also passed.
Everyone thought his career would end there.
But he turned around again to prepare for the 2012 London Olympics.
That was his third Olympic appearance, and that time, he won the silver medal, just one step away from the gold medal.
Just as he was about to launch a charge against the next Olympic gold medal, he injured his back again.
With 6 months left before the race, he pushed himself, underwent another operation, and then resumed training as quickly as he could.
Finally, he stood on the Olympic stage for the fourth time, at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
In the spotlight, the eyes of the whole world are on the Olympic veteran.
When he gritted his teeth and successfully raised the barbell above his head, the audience gave thunderous applause.
At the age of 33, he stood on the highest podium and kissed the gold medal affectionately, tears in his eyes.
After 12 years of hard training, he has participated in 4 Olympic Games in a row, and has experienced countless hardships and setbacks.
He became more and more courageous, and under the squeeze of fate, he wrote a story of Jedi Counterattack.
03
Why tell these two stories?
Taleb once proposed two states of life in "Antifragility":
Many people encounter some unsatisfactory things, they become like glass balls, once they fall to the ground, they will break into one place, such as Howard, such a person belongs to the "fragile" physique.
Others, like rubber balls, do not break even if they fall to the ground, but bounce higher, like Oscar Figueroa, who develops an "anti-fragile" physique.
The so-called challenge, for the fragile person, may be a difficult obstacle in life, and for the person with an "anti-fragile" physique, it is just another springboard to success.
The decision to determine whether a person is strong or not is not how high his starting point is, but whether he falls like a glass ball when he falls into a low, or whether he bounces higher and higher like a rubber ball.
04
Many years ago, when I first joined the work force, there was also a low period.
At that time, I had just entered the society from my student days, and I only cared about working with my head buried, and I didn't understand interpersonal relationships at all.
Once I met a leader in the bathroom, and because I didn't greet him, I was told that I was leaderless when I turned back.
Frustrated repeatedly, it didn't take long for me to leave my job.
Just at this time, the girlfriend who had been talking for many years also left me.
During that time, I was depressed and saw no hope.
Until a doctor friend told me a story.
He said there was a "Wolff's Law" in medicine.
Wolff, a German orthopedic surgeon, after studying the growth law of human bones, found that if the bones of the human body are subjected to external pressure for a long time, their density and hardness will become larger and larger.
The principle of fitness is also like this, high-intensity exercise, will destroy the muscle tissue, the muscle after tearing, before it begins to rebuild.
Finally, the doctor said a sentence that made me realize:
"Sometimes, injuries and blows are the source of human evolution."
Each of us grows like the evolution of bones and muscles.
In this long life, no one will inevitably encounter some squeeze collisions.
But if you think about it another way, those that put pressure on you may also be promoting your growth.
Kant said: "If we are like animals, listening to desires and escaping from vulnerability and suffering, we are not making choices, but obeying." ”
Obeying vulnerability is an instinct, and resisting vulnerability is a skill.
The wind will extinguish the candles, but it will make the fire burn stronger and stronger.
There are many uncertainties in life, and when those accidents come, what we have to do is not like a candle, resigned to fate, but like a torch, dancing with the wind.
05
There is a sentence in the Book of Wisdom that reads:
"Only those who are determined to bear the troubles can bear the troubles, and do not bow to the bad luck, otherwise the god of bad luck will be more arrogant."
When encountering danger, some people can hardly help themselves, and they do not know how to endure the difficulties, so that the pain is magnified;
And some people can think deeply, overcome their own weaknesses, can conquer everything, and even conquer fate. ”
The most powerful people in this world are not without setbacks.
But even if you fall into the chasm of fate, you can still save yourself from it and regroup.
As the writer Fu Lei said: "Heroes are not vulnerable when they are not vulnerable, but they are not conquered by vulnerability." ”
There will be a lot of unhappiness in life, and if you can't go over, it's a bump, and if you step over, you're going up the stairs.
When you can accept the uncertainty of life, can accept failure, those who can't crush you, can ultimately make you stronger.
Give it a thumbs up and encourage your friends.