fciwomenswrestling.com femcompetitor.com article, pexels.com Joao Jesus photo credit
March 19, 2019,
Great success comes to those who willingly place themselves in challenging situations for personal growth, then adapt, survive and eventually thrive.
Does that describe your personality?
So many operate from a position of fear, with an aversion to risk, walking a restricted pathway that may feel safe and comfortable, unaware that it may be limiting their growth.
Eventually one day they wake up and realize that life passed them by, especially when they view the lives of others who did take risks for what they desired and evolved into someone else.
Someone else more capable, fearless and wildly successful.
Someone that people quietly respect and admire.
We knew of someone in our circle named Melody who purposely placed herself alone in situations with other cultures for financial and personal growth.
She adapted to Japanese, Ukrainian and French society. According to her, the best way to be accepted in another culture other than your own is to adapt to them and not try and force them to change and adapt to you. Don’t insist on your way or rights. Don’t be overly sensitive about every remark that may seem a little inappropriate.
Be outstanding at what you do but don’t try and stand out.
Above all, go alone when you visit their society.
“Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.”…Stephen Hawking
Understandably you should have contacts prior to your trip but still travel and stay there by yourself. If you go in a group then the other culture sees you as a group of people different from their own.
If you go by yourself and adapt, over time they begin to forget where you are from because you behave like them in so many ways that they start to see you as part of the group.
Even if you are a guest.
Yes, some might describe it as assimilation.
If by choice, is that really such a bad thing?
Melody has gone on to great financial and career success in part because she took a little bit from each society that she visited and applied their successful techniques in her own life.
In his June 4, 2015 article posted in Psychology Today, titled The 7 Characteristics of Emotionally Strong People, Mr. Guy Winch Ph.D. shared, “Emotionally strong people manage the stresses of daily life more effectively, and recover more quickly from challenges and crises when they arise.”
What did he list as one of the characteristics of emotionally strong people?
They are more adaptable to change.
It is time to bring our adaptation story into sharper focus.
The focus here is not scenarios where characters are forced to adapt to an unfortunate situation like being involved in a car accident that leaves them paralyzed or other accidents and mishaps that cripple or permanently injure them.
We see adaptation occur in film where initially the character is resistant to change but over time sees that it is their best interest to willingly adapt, learn and apply.
A Stranger Among Us is a 1992 film directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Melanie Griffith.
It tells the story of an undercover police officer’s experiences in a Hasidic community. It was entered into the 1992 Cannes Film Festival.
Here is the storyline.
Hardened New York City homicide detective Emily Eden (Melanie Griffith), daughter of a divorced former cop, and her partner Nick (Jamey Sheridan) attempt to arrest two drug dealers.
However, Nick is stabbed by one of the dealers, whom Emily wounds instead of alerting assistance at first. As a result, her superior Lt. Oliver (David Margulies) temporarily takes away her gun.
After Nick is hospitalized, eventually heading to recovery, while the dealers have been apprehended, Emily goes undercover to investigate the murder of a Hasidic diamond-cutter named Yaakov Klausman (Jake Weber).
She questions the family of the Hasidic rebbe (Lee Richardson), an elderly Holocaust survivor who is revered for his wisdom and compassion toward his fellow Jews. He says to her, “You and I have something in common: We are both intimately familiar with evil. It does something to your soul.”
It does indeed.
While living with the family, Emily changes her appearance and adapts to her new culture.
As a result she grows from the experience and solves the case.
Well, it is a movie after all. Some do have happy endings.
When we watched this film we had been used to watching Melonie Griffith play girlie girls and the girl next door sweet heart types so it was refreshing to watch her in a much grittier role where her willingness to adapt as an actress yielded nice results.
One more.
The Ramen Girl is a 2008 romantic comedy-drama film starring Brittany Murphy about a girl who goes to Japan and decides to learn how to cook ramen. (Warner Brothers)
Here is the storyline.
Abby (Brittany Murphy) is an American girl who goes to Tokyo to be with her boyfriend, Ethan (Gabriel Mann). Ethan tells her that he has to go to Osaka on a business trip and may not be back for a while. Abby asks to go with him but Ethan refuses and breaks up with her.
Abby goes to a ramen shop afterward, and the chef Maezumi (Toshiyuki Nishida) and his wife Reiko (Kimiko Yo) tell her that they are closed. Abby does not understand them as she does not speak Japanese. She starts to cry, so the chef conveys to her to sit down. He brings her a bowl of ramen, and she loves it.
The next day she comes back and sits down at the counter. He gives her another bowl of ramen and she eats. As she eats, she breaks into uncontrollable giggles, as does another patron.
Abby soon learns how to make ramen, but Maezumi insists that it has no soul. Maezumi’s mother tastes her ramen and tells her, in Japanese, that she is cooking with her head; when Abby confesses that there is only pain in her heart, Maezumi’s mother advises that she should put tears in her ramen, as she has no love to share.
Abby has strayed from the safety of conventional ramen, and made hers with peppers, corn and tomato, a concoction she calls “Goddess Ramen”.
Sounds tasty. Sounds risky. Sounds hot.
Good for her.
When she moves back to New York, she opens her own shop called, yes you guessed it, The Ramen Girl.
“As the world we live in is so unpredictable, the ability to learn and to adapt to change is imperative, alongside creativity, problem-solving, and communication skills.”… Alain Dehaze
For us, Brittany Murphy was always easy on the eyes and ears.
The Atlanta born star was best known for her role in Clueless (1995) and 8 Mile (2002) with Eminem and also co-starred in Girl Interrupted (1999) with Angelina Jolie.
Sadly, not long after starring in The Ramen Girl, she passed away on December 20, 2009.
We respected how starring in The Ramen Girl was a departure from Brittany’s previous roles and how she took risks to play against type and embrace Japanese society.
Among the many qualities that propel personal growth is the ability to place yourself in positive but challenging situations where you have to function outside of your comfort zone.
Though temporarily, while that can be a little frightening and even stressful, eventually it can be a very rewarding and self-enhancing experience for you.
When we ourselves have done that, alone, we have never regretted it.
If you willingly try that pathway, alone, especially in applying your skills in other cultures, we sense that you will substantially grow and never regret that either.
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Opening photo pexels.com Joao Jesus photo credit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Stranger_Among_Us
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ramen_Girl
https://people.com/movies/brittany-murphy-sudden-death-hollywood/
https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/adapt
