Affirmative What?

As I’ve aged, my hearing has diminished noticeably in at least one of my ears; maybe both.  Who knows?  At least I can tell the difference in sound quality between my ears.  I say that to get to this point.  One day last week I was absent mindedly listening to a television program in the background and misunderstood what one of the talking heads said.  

What I thought I heard switched my full and immediate attention to the television, however it became immediately apparent that what I thought I heard wasn’t what was said at all.  I still don’t know what was said before my attention shifted, but I am 99.99% sure that the talking heads didn’t say what I thought I had heard. 

Whatever it was they were talking about quickly lost my interest, and I moved on to something else.  However, what I had thought I had heard stuck in my mind.  Maybe, instead of hearing what was said, I heard what I needed to hear.

I Googled the phrase/term, that I thought that I had heard, to see if it even existed in popular society.  It didn’t, which surprised me, as I felt it to be a rather useful phrase.  So what is the phrase?  Affirmative hardship.  When I thought I heard that phrase, it really set my mind to work.  I liked the ring of it.  What would be an affirmative hardship?  It sort of sums up and gives a name to, “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger”, doesn’t it?  It also defines the very act of “delayed gratification”, which in theory is to postpone reward or pleasure in order to reap greater reward or gratification.

I like the phrase.  It implies a positive outcome to hardship.  It could also imply making the best of a hardship.  I’ve heard the phrase, “Things always turn out the best for those who make the best of how things turn out”, attributed to several different people.  I honestly don’t know who said it first, but they had to have affirmative hardship in mind when they said it.  To me an affirmative hardship is a hardship that has a positive outcome or positive output.  Whether someone intentionally enters into what they intend to be an affirmative hardship, or just falls into it by accident, it still is what it is; a hardship with an affirmative outcome or output.

We’ve all experienced one or many of these affirmative hardships.  Some of them we intentionally bit off.  I worked a full time job, while finishing my last three years of college, and tried to attend to family and community obligations all at once.  I knew it would be a hardship going into it, and I knew that I had no idea how much or exactly how the hardship would impact me or my family.  I still took on the hardship intentionally, and it’s had a positive payback.  I'd call that an affirmative hardship.  But, there are affirmative hardships much greater than that.

Bryan Anderson can tell you about an affirmative hardship far beyond any that you or I are likely to have under our belts.  On September 11 of 2001, a day that will truly live in infamy, he joined the United States Army at the ripe age of nineteen.  Four years later an Iraqi IED took the truck he was driving out from under him, and in the process also took both of his legs and his left hand.  He says that his first thought was, “My Mom is going to kill me.”  For Bryan, that moment changed everything.  

Seven years later, we find Bryan Anderson traveling the country relating his experiences with hardship, to the struggles and hardships that others find in their lives, and helping them see the way through their affirmative hardship.  Anderson says that his recovery philosophy became, “living in the moment”.  He says his philosophy since has been, “Why settle for a normal life when you can have an extraordinary life?”

Bryan Anderson is now a featured speaker 30 to 40 times a year, and is paid up to $10,000 per appearance, but he frequently appears to speak for free.  He is the national spokesman for USA Cares.  In addition to his speaking engagements, Bryan travels across the country, rides a motorcycle, and snowboards.  He serves as an inspiration and as a motivator for thousands.   Says Anderson, “There’s not a whole lot I can’t be.”  That is an affirmative hardship!

In celebrating Memorial Day to honor those who fought and died to defend our freedom, let us remember them, and live in such a way, that we can truly say that their ultimate sacrifice was the ultimate affirmative hardship.  Let us also be grateful to those that fought and lived.  Today, and every day forward we can say in our hearts, what mere words cannot say strongly enough.  Thank you!

Yes, I like the phrase, affirmative hardship.  I found it in a moment of hearing deficiency, so I get to classify and define it.  I’m classifying it as definitely an American phrase.  It might not mean much to people from some other parts of the world, but here in the USA, I think it means a lot.  I think maybe it’s one of the founding principles that never had a name before, but underlies the great spirit of this country.  Now it has a name.  The next time someone asks you why you are volunteering to take on a hardship for a good cause, you have your answer.  Just tell them that it’s an affirmative hardship, and let them figure out the rest.

Surround yourself with people who love you, work that you love, and a cause that you believe in.

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