Adversity Is An Opportunity

My definition of mental toughness is to have a level ego no matter what situation you are placed in. It is the ability to not worry about the small unimportant things.

• Adversity is somewhat of a set back: injury/challenging times.

To be able to rise to the occasion by putting aside all unimportant thoughts and feelings and without letting it negatively affecting you is how character is built and winners are created.

I like to think of adversity as an OPPORTUNITY.

With adversity, you can either choose to think:

• ‘Oh this is too hard, I am too young/good/(any excuse) to have to go through something as horrible as this, or,
• this is building/testing my character, and I will pass this test

Having the ability and courage to look adversity in the eye and walk right over top of it is a skill I wish every person could have. Some days are worse than others but you can’t appreciate the best times until you’ve gone through the worst. Some people may think they have to do it alone, but that is not true. Always try and focus on the responsibility that you have to yourself and to your team, no matter what the situation is.

And what is even better is if you can enjoy your best times with your friends/family that stuck with you through the worst times. I consider myself one of the luckiest people because I have friends/family that have and still do go through thick and think with me. I would like to think I have gone through adversity this past year. Through it all, I could have lost control or gave up on everything. But instead, I looked at the opportunity given to me, with the support of friends/family, and tried like hell to pass the test and build my character a little more every day. I tried to the best of my ability to maintain a level ego at all times because I knew things could have been a lot worse. I know other people are always going through worse things compared to me. I consider myself one of the luckiest hockey players to be playing for the University of Manitoba Bisons women’s hockey team at this moment. I am thankful for the opportunity they gave to me. Now I am going to embrace it and contribute everything I can so my team can be successful.

The past is the past, and time is always moving forward, so why shouldn’t we?

“Tough times never last, tough people do.”

“If you’ve never failed, you’ve never tried anything new.”