If you haven’t heard of the term antifragile before let me do a quick explanation. The best way for me to explain this term is for you to get up and look in the mirror. What you see is an antifragile being. What I mean is that your body will actively get stronger when it’s being stressed/tested by the physical world. Think of it as an upgrade from resilience. Even when you walk down a set of stairs this system of antifragility is taking place, your bones are being stressed by the pressure and weight of your body, leading them to become stronger as a result.
The point I’m trying to get across is that your body actually needs to be placed under stress to thrive and become stronger. Without that, you’ll shrivel up like a little grape in the sun. If you’ve ever shaken the hand of a farmer you’ll know what I mean. Their hands are ridiculously solid and strong, and they certainly weren’t born with hands like that. So they are by nature ‘antifragile’.
Now that I’ve given some exceedingly average theory behind the concept, go out there and do some bloody practical work. Get moving, start a strange new sport, train in a way you haven’t before, your body thrives from it. literally.
And finally, I’ll leave you with a fantastic quote from the Supreme Court Chief Justice, John Roberts. To me, this quote embodies what ‘Anti-fragility’ is about.
“From time to time in the years to come, I hope that you will be treated unfairly, so that you will come to know the value of justice.
I hope that you will suffer betrayal because that will teach you the importance of loyalty.
Sorry to say but I hope that you will be lonely from time to time so that you don’t take friends for granted.
I wish you bad luck, again, from time to time so that you will be conscious of the role of chance in life and understand that your success is completely deserved and that the failure of others is not completely deserved either.
And when you lose, from time to time, I hope every now and then, your opponent will gloat over your failure. It is a way for you to understand the importance of sportsmanship.
I hope you’ll be ignored so that you know the importance of listening to others, and I hope you will have just enough pain to learn compassion.
Whether I wish these things or not, they are going to happen. And whether you benefit from them or not will depend upon your ability to see the message in your misfortunes.”
