Struggle: The word evokes famous phrases, including “no pain, no gain,” and “there are no shortcuts to anyplace worth going.” Accompanying these sayings are stories of individuals who pushed through failure to achieve success. These stories include those of Michael Jordan, who was cut from his high school basketball team, Thomas Edison, who made hundreds of attempts to find the right light bulb filament, and Abraham Lincoln, who lost eight elections. We celebrate these individuals and their stories. But unfortunately, we focus on their ultimate success, rather than applying their strength and determination to our own lives. We should strive to adopt their character when facing failure, given that experiencing and overcoming adversity can increase our happiness.
For centuries there has been speculation about the relationship between adversity and happiness. Although modern research is driving us toward an answer to be sure, the question is far from settled. A 2010 study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology concluded that those who had experienced negative life events had higher mental and general wellbeing than those who had not. As a caveat, the study also concluded there is a level of adversity at which point adversity decreases wellbeing. The researchers modeled the relationship between adversity and happiness as a U-shaped curve. The study stated that “in moderation, whatever does not kill us, may indeed make us stronger.” If we are looking to boost our happiness, we would be wise to seek out moderate struggles.
Most struggles involve a mental challenge. One must solve a problem that appears difficult, even impossible. Brains love this challenge. The 2008 study “Improving Fluid Intelligence with Training on Working Memory” concluded that intense mental exercise increases performance across a whole array of cognitive functions. One might say this study concluded that what doesn’t kill you makes you smarter. A follow-up study exploring the relationship between dopamine levels and mental training concluded that intense mental training increases the “binding potential” of a particular dopamine receptor. This dopamine receptor furthers mental functioning and motivation. The results of this study are in keeping with what Einstein once said: “One should not pursue goals that are easily achieved. One must develop an instinct for what one can just barely achieve through one’s greatest efforts.” It’s worth asking: What can I do to stretch myself mentally?
Struggles can boost a person’s resilience to future adversity. The American Psychological Association suggests 10 ways to build resilience. Half of them involve learning from struggle. For instance, one suggestion is to “look for opportunities of self-discovery after a struggle with loss.” Another is to “avoid seeing crises or stressful events as unbearable problems.”
Though struggles may be painful, these studies suggest that they can in fact eventually promote intelligence, resilience and happiness. Unfortunately, despite the famous sayings and scientific evidence, adversity is regarded primarily as something to avoid. Even students at Brown can be tempted by the normal human inclinations to sleep more, take an “easy” class or skip exercise.
Sometimes struggle is avoided to the point where perfectionism develops. Perfectionists limit themselves to what they are already good at or familiar with to avoid confronting potential failure in new subjects or experiences. While taking a class S/NC might be a healthy way to get into a new and challenging subject, it also can be the tool of the perfectionists overly worried about their GPAs. Perfectionists feel comfortable but don’t experience much personal growth.
Brown students, having been high achievers already, are perhaps more susceptible than most to perfectionism. But it actually would be healthier for us to experience more setbacks. So take a really hard class, pick up an instrument or muddle your way through learning a new language.
And generally, if you are one to set goals, I’d say seek out healthy struggles — struggles that won’t kill you. It might pay off in the long run.
Oliver Hudson ’14 welcomes your comments. He may be reached at oliver_hudson@brown.edu.
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