[May 1, 2024] You will face challenges in your life. Those who face them with grit, a good attitude, and tenacity will have a good life. Embrace life, learn from your experiences, grow your family and friends, commensurate with God, seek responsibility, and be truthful in all things. This is the path to a good life.
But tragedies and malevolence will creep up on you and pound you into the ground. Don’t let it determine your life; get up, dust yourself off, and get on with your life. This advice may sound a bit cliché, but this is indeed the right way to overcome adversity.
Here are a few challenges that you will face that you MUST overcome:
- Failure: Failure has existed since the first man and woman walked on this earth. The most common reason people fail is they have never set the criteria for success. They drift toward some undefined goal, and when their life does not work out, they crash and burn, blaming others or fate. They are victims of their own mental state and accept failure as a defining feature of their lives rather than something to move beyond. Develop some humility and get on with your life.
- Death and Disease: Loss of loved ones, friends, co-workers, the innocent, and the kind is part of life, and like disease, it is always present. Those with a strong value system and surrounded by a network of family and friends will recover quicker and be healthier. Nurture others, for they will be the ones you can rely upon to walk you through the death and disease that would otherwise destroy you.
- Betrayal: Betrayal is an evil more profound than any human behavior we can imagine. In Dante’s Inferno, sins like torture, murder, and rape were not at the bottom of the pit (nine circles of Hell); it was betrayal. Like failure, death and disease, you will experience betrayal. We all have, or we all will have, sometime in the future. If you expose yourself to small evils and learn to overcome them, you will not be destroyed when the big betrayal comes about. Be ready for evil, and that evil will not make you fall.
- Fear: Fear is natural. Fear is a survival technique that can and will backfire if you do not properly understand it. In the Bible, fear is often symbolized through the idea of Hell. And Hell is a place you do not want to go. The most effective way to overcome fear is to face it. That may sound counterintuitive, and it certainly is not something a person would want, but facing your fears head-on is the only way to move beyond it. Focus your attention on that which you would like to avoid. Look into the abyss at what frightens you the most because that is where you will find your courage to carry on.
- Tragedy: Tragedy here is defined as a terrible event not caused by evil. There will always be circumstances where tragedy will visit you: a tornado destroys your town, floods, hurricanes, loss of a job, and a host of examples that cause significant suffering. Regardless, you will be set back somehow, and it will take a serious effort to recover.
In your heart, having the courage and the willingness to set things right is the beginning of overcoming these challenges. There is a quote by Carl Jung that I like. He said “That which we need most will be found where we least want to look.” Now, that is profound. To overcome the worst things in life, you must look into that darkness because that is where the light of good will be found.
There is going to be terrible darkness in our lives, and that is going to make us cynical, resentful, willfully blind, and bitter. So be aware. By looking into that abyss, you will discover that there is more to you than you could ever imagine. Don’t be a participant in Hell.
—————
Please read my books:
Gen. Satterfield is giving us something to think about. But I will highly recommend his book “55 Rules for a Good Life,” and get extra copies to send out to family and friends. You will be happy at the response you get.
https://www.amazon.com/55-Rules-Good-Life-Responsibility/dp/1737915529/
😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊
Gen. Satterfield, I almost missed this article. You are correct with this list as general categories of those challenges in life that we ALL will experience at some point and in some high degree (or not), and that we must be prepared to overcome those challenges. But if we establish a network of good family members and friends, and ready ourselves, then we will be ready to face anything that comes our way. That is the path of the good man and woman.
👏👏👏👏👏 Well said.
Life is all about overcoming the ordinary to become great.
Interestingly, I’m not new here but rarely post a comment, but I had to on this post. I like to read the comments because often I learn just a much in the explanations and comments. So for that, I want to thank all those who do take the time to comment. What I wanted to note today is that these kinds of articles help me. But it is ultimately up to ME to make changes in my life for my life to be better. No one else will make the change BUT they will help if you ask. “Ask and you shall receive.” Matthew 7:7 says ““Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” you would think this is common sense but it is not because it is hard to do.
Sissy Woman, you’ve got something going on there. Congrats and thank you today for commenting.
Yes, indeed, well said.
“Betrayal is not just an undesirable quality. When I read Dante’s Inferno back as an undergraduate, I was both intrigued and surprised at its philosophical depth (at least that is what my professor said). What stood out for our Classic Literature class was that sins like torture, murder, and rape were not at the bottom of the pit. Betrayal was the most deplorable; even more evil than taking of a life. The readings of great literature, including various religious texts like the Bible, time after time, provide us with stories of betrayal. Dante placed Cain, Antenora, Ptolemy, and Judas at the bottom of the pit along with Lucifer himself. He considered these men the archetypes of the evils humans can do and deserving of no pity: only contempt.” – from an article by Gen. Satterfield. This is why I highly recommend this blog. Oh, Gen. Satterfield, I love the letters to your granddaughter.
https://www.theleadermaker.com/granddaughter-letters/
Read these letters and I hope Gen. Satterfield puts them into a book and ties them to his career as an Army Officer.
Yep, that’s why I read this blog. Thanks Winston.
Betrayal is the most difficult to overcome because, it is “Betrayal: an Undesirable Quality.” An understatement.
https://www.theleadermaker.com/betrayal-an-undesirable-quality/
Thank you, Gen. Satterfield for your continued posting of lessons (ie, advice and recommendations) that we should see and adopt. Nothing like a little reality to start the day. And, here is a piece of advice for young people that you can add to your new series, if you are young, your opinions are meaningless. You have no opinions, for what you say is just mouthing what others have already said. Best keep your mouth shut, and let others think that you might be smart, rather than like college students today who shut “from the river to the sea” and let everyone know they are some of the dumbest kids on earth.
Max, got a laugh from this one. “the dumbest kids on earth.” Well, that is pretty universal. 👍
Library, yep, that’s Gen. Satterfield all right.
good info
“There is going to be terrible darkness in our lives, and that is going to make us cynical, resentful, willfully blind, and bitter. So be aware. By looking into that abyss, you will discover that there is more to you than you could ever imagine. Don’t be a participant in Hell.” – Gen. Doug Satterfield is being a little philosophical here. Great job, sir.
While walking for me is a challenge 🚶, I know that there are many others that are far more difficult because it requires GRIT and DETERMINATION. For those who are young and believe the world is against you, just note that there will ALWAYS be those who are much much worse off than you. Life me ♿ who cannot walk. If you want to be a good person, then take the advice of Gen. Doug Satterfield, a good man, and learn to overcome obstacles and these challenges are those that everyone has to overcome at some point. 😊
Sometimes we will be unable to overcome these challenges in life. We will then have to accept it. But we must be convinced and others convinced those cannot be overcome. Be we can always start anew.
Right, if you cannot walk, then you cannot walk. But you can overcome by being in a wheelchair or on crutches. We can use something or someone to assist us along the way. Don’t be down just because tragedy hits. Tragedy hits us all eventually. That is not a negatvie comment, just a recognition of reality.
Yep, a reality check is sometimes needed.
Rolling a stone uphill. Now that is a challenge for life. 😁😁😁😁😁😁