Challenge the challenges creatively

Challenge the challenges creatively

Every struggle and hurdle in our lives shape us into the real persons that we are. A tea kettle sings only when holding steaming hot water - our challenges must make us optimistic and forward looking.

During the Great Depression, one man by the name Charles Darrow could find no work and was facing a challenging time as he was completely broke, and his wife was expecting a baby. But he kept his optimism up and tried to cheer his wife too - so he devised a game and made her play every day. He laid out his own little boardwalk on a square piece of card board thinking of all the happy vacations they both had in the nearby Atlantic City. On his imagined properties, he put miniature houses and hotels that he carved out of small wood pieces. They both while playing the game pretended to be rich - hoping to see better days ahead. The game called "Monopoly" was thus created, which later was marketed by a company, making Charles Darrow a millionaire.

Recently I came across an account which is very interesting and educative.

The Japanese have always loved fresh fish, so to feed the Japanese population, fishing boats got bigger and went farther, but took longer to bring the fish and the fish were not fresh To solve this problem, fish companies installed freezers on their boats. Freezers allowed the boats to go farther and stay longer. However, the Japanese did not like the taste of frozen fish. The frozen fish brought a lower price. So, fishing companies installed fish tanks to stuff them in fin to fin. After a little thrashing around, they were tired, dull, and lost their fresh-fish taste. The fishing industry faced an impending crisis!

But today, they get fresh-tasting fish to Japan. How did they manage...? To keep the fish tasting fresh, the Japanese fishing companies still put the fish in the tanks but with a small shark too. The fish are challenged constantly and hence are constantly on the move. The challenge they face keeps them alive and fresh!

Though this analogy may sound blatant, the reality is that human lives too will become dull and inert without challenges. Taking challenges head-on and conquering them fills self-confidence and adds pep helps us in collecting our skills and potential to win the game instead of wallowing in self-pity and self-doubt.