The Response to Hardship That Leads to Growth and Freedom

In August 1921, an athletic, healthy 39-year-old man awoke at his family cabin in Maine with a strange ache in his back. Despite trying to shake it off with a swim and a jog, the pain and fatigue increased. Within 48 hours, paralysis set in across his arms and legs. He lost all control of his lower bodily functions.

Over the following weeks and months, some function returned, though Franklin Roosevelt would remain unable to walk without assistance. Tragically, he had been infected by polio. Despite the pain, embarrassment and loss, he bravely endured grueling treatment, physical therapy and the darkness of depression.

Three years later, New York Governor Al Smith asked him to be the one to nominate him for President of the United States at the Democratic National Convention to be held at Madison Square Garden. (This was primarily to leverage Roosevelt’s well-regarded surname.)

This convention speech would be Roosevelt’s first public appearance in three years and the first time he would be broadcast on national radio. To give the speech, he had to walk alone across the stage with crutches and lean on the podium for support. Observers in the front row said that he was trembling and shaking as he delivered the speech.

He could have declined this invitation to avoid the physical and psychological pain. Instead, he bravely approached it as an opportunity.

When Roosevelt finished his speech, according to Doris Kearns Goodwin, the crowd went crazy. A reporter for the Syracuse Herald wrote, “I never was present at so fine a display of mental courage.”

Of course, the rest is history. Roosevelt went on to become one of the country’s most well-regarded presidents, despite his massive physical limitations.

The Space Between Stimulus and Response

Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl famously wrote:

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

Franklin Roosevelt chose to respond to his hardship with bravery and opportunity.

How will you respond to yours?

Each of us experiences stimulus every day and often we assume or default to a patterned response. For example, you might experience a stimulus like:

• Receiving criticism
• Losing to a competitor
• Being rejected by others
• Getting bad news
• Being forced to change
• Dealing with a difficult person
• Being interrupted
• Facing tragedy
• Enduring trauma
• Having to do something stressful
• Scary circumstances
• Painful thoughts or emotions

In response to each of these stimuli, it’s very likely that you will want to:

• Complain
• Blame
• Defend
• Rationalize
• Avoid
• Shrink back
• Argue
• Demand
• Withdraw
• Give up

And that would be normal. Your brain’s amygdala, which is responsible for ensuring your survival, has strong influence and power over your thoughts and feelings. It screams FIGHT or FLIGHT when it suspects a threat to your current or future well-being.

Yet the amygdala isn’t your entire brain. There is a space between stimulus and response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

Instead of fighting or fleeing, you can choose to follow the path of Franklin Roosevelt and others who have made an impact on the world despite or even because of their hardship. You can choose to respond with courage, power, love and self-control.

There is a space between stimulus and response. What will you choose?

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