Shifting Outlooks

Jenny Chang
Orange Lutheran High School 12th Grade

Psychological hardiness is but an erudite term that pertains to the generic lifestyle of any given individual. Coined to characterize the ability of a person to withstand obstacles and rather use hardship to further his or her tolerance level, har- diness composes of three primary facets: control, challenge, and commitment.

Control refers to a person’ s internal locus of control, or the rudimentary belief that one is capable of determining the outcome of certain events, at least to an extent. Challenge is the evident hardships that naturally emerge in any person’ s life, and how this person can view it as an opportunity to develop endurance and grow from the experience. Commitment al- ludes to authentic endeavors a person takes to meet his or her career ambitions throughout the span of his or her life. When these three aspects are linked, they constitute the com- prehensive term“ hardiness” that analyzes how a certain individual can utilize his or her par- ticular challenges to be able to withstand far greater in the future.

As a senior in the midst of the dreaded col- lege application process, I have found myself repeatedly associating myself with this generic term and pondering about how stress, ironi- cally, can enhance an individual’ s physical and emotional competence to flourish in any sur- rounding. Since one learns best from direct ex- perience, I strongly support the notion that one must experience an array of adversities before he or she can genuinely obtain the mindset to regard stress as an indispensable factor of ev- eryday living.

Overwhelmed with having to constantly balance between the social, humanitarian, academic, college preparatory, and interning aspects of my life, I struggle to view the stress that tags along as hardly beneficial, let alone vital. Personally, the most exacting element about this process is the mentality that restricts me from achieving my full potential; thoughts such as“you will never be as exceptional as those around you” or continuous comparison to successful older cousins as an undoubtable part of Asian culture ongoingly discourages me from attempting to maximize my capacity as a unique person.