What Actually Makes You Stronger

Everybody’s heard the saying “That which does not kill you makes you stronger,” Nietzsche I believe said it, or something very similar.

It’s wrong though, or at least woefully incomplete. (Or, it’s incomplete in the way we use the words these days.)

Nowadays people think that if bad stuff happens to you, you get stronger.

Wrong.

You get stronger because you work to get stronger.

The people who actually grow from tragedy or adversity are those work at using the event as fuel – they decide to get stronger.

I suggest we update the quote to be more useful, and accurate, for modern days:

That which doesn’t kill you merely isn’t fatal. Those who get stronger from adversity or tragedy decide to do whatever it takes to get stronger.

Similar Posts

  • How Life Works

    Before I let you go for the weekend, here’s something I found on Darren Hardy’s Facebook page: You get in life what you create. Expectation drives the creative process. What do you expect? You expect whatever it is you’re thinking about. Your thought process, the conversation in your head, is at the base of the…

  • Work Comes First

    The dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if you’re willing to pay the price. – Vince Lombardi Despite what you may have heard, you must do the work to have the reward. But the cool thing…

  • The Opposite of Creation

    In life, the opposite of creation is not destruction, it’s victim-hood. “Huh?” (you may say). In life, we can choose to be responsible for our lives and create through our choices, or play the victim and allow life to wash over us all the while lamenting the unfairness of things and wallowing in passivity. Put another…