Stoicism - PART 10 Virtue - Courage

We all experience different sorts of hardships throughout our lives, whether these are relatively insignificant or considered by most to be flat out terrible, we often compare our hardships with those of others. Sometimes we see that other people complain over something that may sound dumb or meaningless to us, other times we see that other people struggle a lot more than us. If we compare our personal hardships, we'll never agree on what's more important or how we should feel about certain events. Use other people's hardships as knowledge and view them as challenges that may potentially be presented to you, and think about what you can do to prevent it or solve it. 

Don't undermine other people's struggles based on your own experience, think about the reaction you are giving to the person and how you would feel if you got the same response when sharing one of your own struggles. After applying this, take on your own struggles and avoid comparing how worse or better your situation is compared to others, otherwise it will lead to frustration and/or other negative emotions. Use acquired wisdom, if any, to help you make important decisions or actions that will help you deal with an obstacle.

If you ever feel like life has thrown too much at you, remember the real unlucky ones are those that rarely experience hardship. They don't know the satisfaction of overcoming a challenge, they don't know how capable they are of solving problems  and may never be able to show the world what they're made of. 

The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time is a game that takes place in a world created by three gods, which represent Power, Wisdom and Courage.

The protagonist, Link, possesses the godly artifact that represents courage. When I played this game as a child, I didn't think much of how important this concept was for the game as a whole. Link is summoned as a 10-11 year old by a forest entity and is told that he is a child of prophecy, destined to save the world from evil. I know, this isn't a very original concept at first glance. However, Link has to leave his home in the forest and travel across the landscape to stop the forces of evil. Once it seems this is completed, the antagonist gains the upper hand and Link is forced to sleep for 7 years until he is strong enough to fight the villain. After traveling the landscape again as an apparent adult and seeing those friendships and people he helped as a child pass away and become spirits you can't help thinking about everything Link loses in order to save his world. At the end, Link is taken back to the past to relive his childhood but without those that helped him in his journey. An innocent boy that sacrificed his childhood and fought to the very end despite losing everyone he knew and loved, a dark example of courage but one that I look up to.

Show the world what you're made of, don't back down when life gets hard and know that you will need to make sacrifices, so be ready for them. 

-Roberto