We Are All Superheroes in Our Life Stories

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It’s interesting how life has great moments that make us feel like we are flying high up in the air, such as when receiving a job promotion, going on a date with a crush, or succeeding in a challenging project. But then, there are moments when we feel like we got knocked down from the sky, landed on our faces, and ate a big pile of shit. For example, when interacting with impolite people, dealing with a breakup, or grieving the death of a loved one. These are moments of adversity. I, however, believe it’s possible to get up from the ground quickly, often immediately, and sometimes just never landing in the first place.

In this article, I relate how we are all superheroes, the types of enemies we face, and how we can train to become more powerful than our adversaries.

In my life story, I often visualize myself as a superhero whose job is to defeat villains, aka “adversity”, presented by life. This may sound like an odd perspective but I see no big difference in defeating a physical enemy than defeating an imaginary one. They both cause harm and generate negative experiences.

In this perspective, villains, have different power levels and cast spells that can leave us with anxiety, stress, depression, or other negative emotions. Depending on their strength, they can cause mild to severe damage to our mental and physical well-being.

Ordinary Villains

Moderate Villains

(Image credit: Disney Wiki)

Moderate villains present themselves much less frequently than ordinary villains. They attempt to bring our emotional state down longer. A moderate villain typically involves a malicious action intending to cause harm to us. For example, when feeling taken advantage of, when a coworker maliciously tries to make us look bad in front of others, or when someone intentionally harms us or our property.

Other times a moderate villain presents itself is when dealing with high-stress situations. For example, I recently fought a moderate villain when my flight got canceled, got stuck in a different city, and lost a night at my destination.

This moderate villain hit me with a powerful attack of stress, bringing my spirit and excitement down. Did that blow hurt? Of course, but I also fought back.

Yes… I dwelled on that problem for a little, but I regained my composure and began exploring all possible solutions. After realizing I wasn’t arriving at my destination on the same day, I just accepted it. I then used my time reading a book and socializing with other travelers, lifting my mood, and feeling like I got off the ground after a powerful blow from this villain.

Figuratively speaking, I destroyed the villain when I accepted the situation and sought to heal my wounds by spending time doing things I enjoy.

Stealthy Enemies

Detecting and destroying this villain may require looking inside instead of outside.

A powerful technique is asking ourselves which people bring negative emotions into our lives, what non-productive time-consuming activities we engage in more than we should, or what activity we have been putting off for later.

Powerful Villains

Some villains are unquestionably powerful. These are villains who, emotionally speaking, can bring you to the very bottom. They are so powerful that even thinking of them may bring strong emotions. We all recognize them. Unfortunately, they are a fact of life.

However, even these villains, too, can be defeated or at least we can put up a good fight against them.

Becoming More Powerful

How do we even fight villains?

The answer is… with our mindset. Typically, this is developed through religion or philosophical views. But most of us have parted away from religion and do not seek philosophical guidance, weakening us against villains. Additionally, most of us living in the first world have gotten used to living a comfortable life, resulting in frequent confrontations with ordinary villains. How many people in third countries cannot take drinking water for granted? Yet, we get upset when a waiter takes our order wrong at a restaurant.

Our mindset is our most powerful weapon. It gives us the resilience to confront problems rationally and composedly. However, it won’t solve real-life problems. For those, we might still need to take action.

How do we develop our mindset?
With philosophical views that can help you understand life’s challenges by giving them meaning. In this superhero scenario, problems are villains that attempt to disrupt our peace. So the goal in this scenario is to maintain mental peace to appreciate life’s beauty and focus on achieving our personal goals.

I also believe that some villains can be avoided through education. The more knowledgeable we are about a subject, the more prepared we are to prevent a problem.

The Two Gymnasiums

In the external world, many of us strengthen our bodies by lifting, running, or swimming at the gym, resulting in a more resilient body to fight diseases, prevent injuries, and slow down its decay. In the internal world, however, we strengthen our mindset by training our thoughts, resulting in a stronger grip of our emotions. Here, we train at the gym when we read philosophical books, educate ourselves, contemplate life, and practice mindfulness meditation. I’m sure there are more actions that strengthen our mindset, but those are the ones I am familiar with.

Both the internal and external gyms correlate with each other. Physical exercising releases chemicals to the brain that generate a better mood. On the other hand, having a strong mindset prevents weakening our immune system when something attempts to brings us down emotionally.

The Paradox

The beauty about villains is that after defeating them, we achieve a higher power level and many times they even become allies who allows us to increase our self-worth. My most powerful transformations have only occurred after defeating a powerful enemy. Interestingly, they force us to reassess the most intimate aspects of our lives. While we can reassess them without confronting villains, the pain caused by them compels us to change.

Conclusion

I believe that if we train both in the internal and external worlds, then the superhero inside us will be ready to fight any villain presenting itself. And when that happens, perhaps, life is granting us an opportunity to test our power. If it proves more challenging than we thought, then we now know that this is an opportunity to fortify ourselves. Like Stoic philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca stated:

“Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men.”

Maybe… instead of receiving villains antagonistically, we should welcome them and make the best of them. Use them to make you stronger and prove yourself. Because, either way… they are coming.