Your Worst Experience Can Become Your Best

Article by Derrick Henry

I still remember the moments when I saw my dad laying there in a coma, completely unresponsive. The very man who had raised me from a young boy to a young man was essentially dead; this was earth-shattering for me.

But, I learned how to pick those pieces and craft them into something that became much stronger.

I gained a stronger sense of purpose.

I gained a stronger identity.

I gained stronger psychology and physiology.

Your Worst Experience Can Become Your Best

I learned this lesson head-on by facing the death of my own father.

Now, I do not mean that the death of my father was the best. Instead, I am referring to the lessons and wisdom that I gained out of having to go through that experience.

Your worst experiences can really become your best, but that is only assuming that you do so wisely and develop a wise type of psychology.

As a young boy, I always knew that I would get stronger, regardless of what circumstance would head my way. And, this is where I put myself to the test for the very first time.

Not only was I halfway across the country when I first received the news of him being in a coma, but I was also focused on the objective of passing one of the most important exams in the Kenyan education system.

Stress can either break or forge you. In my case, I was forged by all of the stress, anxiety and negative emotion from that experience. Not only was I forged, but I also learned how to utilize my dark side to get through tasks and accomplish objectives.

You will inevitably be confronted by dark and hard times, yet you will always have a decision to make: To Break or To Become Forged.

Death is the ultimate form of motivation. Fuck your inspirational videos and pep talks; I operate on a much different level because of the experience of death that I have witnessed.

Whenever I get anxious or hesitant, I always look back on the fact that my father is buried and becoming one with the worms and the Earth. /

I don’t need a fucking pep talk because I am eternally motivated by something much deeper; death.

Nothing will stop the individual who is determined to grow. An individual with a growth mindset and self-discipline is an individual who becomes a force of nature.

Obstacles merely become speed bumps.

“Negative” life events become sources of inspiration and motivation.

Momentary failures become rocket fuel to even greater future success.

This is how I think and this is who I am, the good news is that you can develop this type of psychology as well.

Major life events are divine opportunities for transformation. Every major life event that you have been through has provided you with a specific opportunity to evolve.

For most people, this opportunity goes grossly ignored because they attach themselves to the negativity of such events.

But, you can be different. You can choose the path of wisdom. You can grow.

Life is a game of reinvention. To the degree that you are able to adapt and reinvent yourself is the degree to which you will become inspired by and satisfied with life.

The only constant that we all experience is change. Hence, we must become adaptable creatures. This is not a difficult task for our species because we are actually creatures of adaptation. We roll with the punches and figure out solutions on the fly. ‘

We have managed to withstand the harshest of weather conditions, droughts, poverty, illness, the list goes on. Your very ancestors have adapted accordingly so that you could experience life here today.

Think back to the times where you had to reinvent yourself, how did you feel?

What did you have to do?

What type of habits did you have to develop?

Who did you have to associate with?

Dig down deep into the trenches of your memory and bring forth the wisdom that you have directly experienced.