“While it’s true that someone can impede our actions, they can’t impede our intentions and our attitudes, which have the power of being conditional and adaptable. For the mind adapts and converts any obstacle to its action into a means of achieving it. That which is an impediment to action is turned to advance action. The obstacle on the path becomes the way.” Marcus Aurelius, Meditations.

Take a look at the challenges that you experience each and every day. Frustrating and emotionally-draining though they may be, how much stronger, agile and adaptable are you for having encountered them and overcome them? As Nietzsche remarked, ‘That which does not destroy me, makes me stronger’. Consider the opposite: if you were lucky enough to have walked a path of ease and tranquility, how confident would you be in your ability to cope, if not having really been tested?