Adversity: Time to Zag
ADVERSITY: Time To Zag
The Cast
By The Fillerbuster
09/15/2026
I presently have the most amount of diversity I have ever had in my life. The man upstairs is throwing everything, including the kitchen sink at me. I won’t get into details. Not needed. Just know that my optimistic self by nature…is being severely tested, to say the least. This blog is sort of like the book Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius, which was not written for audiences, but written to himself. This blog, I guess you could say, is written to myself.
Although, after I spit this out, I hope it raises your spirits in some odd way. Yes, there WILL be sports in it. This is still a sports blog, mind you. Just not as much…
I will come back to this point later on, but the point is this. Given what is happening to me, all of my friends, family, and colleagues would probably expect me to zig based on their past experiences with me. This time, I am going to choose to zag oddly.
The definition of “adversity” is “a difficult of unpleasant situation.” I have a couple of situations going on. One unpleasant situation is totally out of my control. It is just a part of life that has happened to unfortunately surface this week, while the next thing is going on. The other unpleasant situation, at surface layer, is in my control. But, after peeling back the layer this week, I am finding out that it is ALSO out of my control (the situation just doesn’t realize that…yet). Both absolutely suck. I know. My descriptions there are very vague. Remember, this is to myself! I also have a hurt knee, an almost broken ride, and an overall lack of money, but those actually seem like child’s play right now.
So, it is cool and normal these days to say you see a therapist. So, when I start this next sentence, it will be normal, ok? So, my therapist always passes along this tidbit by Viktor Frankl (he is a Logotherapist, I am one now also, and you should look into it). When you expand the space between stimulus and response, that is where you find your greatest potential. When I first started seeing him, I was not good at it. Well, I still might not be, but at least I am AWARE that I need to improve, and awareness of a weakness is the best starting point. And, during this particular time of my life, during my biggest adversity, I can literally feel me expanding that space…right now…as I type this. The zig is that I would go to the bar right now and get hammered, dulling what I am feeling right now. But, oddly, I have made some progress, I WANT to feel the pain right now. I want to take it on. I want to have a very measured response.
I could get angry, but The Power of Now (Eckhart Tolle), another one of my favorites but I won’t quote other stuff from it as this blog would end up monstrously long) says in so many words to “see anger, honor it, disarm it.” Check.
I could dull the pain through drinking. I recently quit drinking. And, oddly, I am not even thinking about it. That is pretty good, considering the line included “recently.” But, that was the Old Mark. This is New Mark.
I could give up. I could throw in the towel. Well, if I was thinking about doing that, I would just watch the Rocky IV montage. That would stop me.
I could cast blame on other people and things. That doesn’t work, folks. It might make you feel better for a moment, but you are just reallocating the pain into wrong places, and shrinking away from what you need to face.
So, what do I do? Well, my therapist, during my first visit with him years ago, brought to my attention a must-read book. Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl. Sometimes I forget the lessons from that book, but, for some reason, right now they are crystal clear. The point of the book is…well, I don’t ever use AI when I write these, but considering you need to read these, let’s just ask and see what pops up. Here you go:
1. Meaning Exists in All Circumstances
Frankl argues that life holds meaning even in the most miserable situations. The challenge is recognizing it, as he did by helping fellow prisoners cope.
2. Attitude Is the Last Human Freedom
Even when everything is taken away, one freedom remains: choosing one’s attitude. Frankl’s famous line—“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing…”—captures this principle.
3. Suffering Can Be Transformed
Suffering is not meaningful by itself, but unavoidable suffering can be transformed into achievement through the attitude one adopts. This forms the basis of Frankl’s “tragic optimism.”
4. Love as a Source of Meaning
Frankl found strength in thinking of his wife, illustrating that love provides deep purpose and can sustain us even in darkness.
5. Meaning Through Responsibility
Purpose often comes from being needed—by a person, a cause, or a task. Responsibility anchors us and gives life direction.
6. Meaning Through Work, Experience, and Attitude
Logotherapy teaches three pathways to meaning:
- Creative work (what we give to the world)
- Experiential values (love, beauty, nature)
- Attitude toward suffering (how we respond when we cannot change circumstances)
7. Hope and Future Vision
Survivors often held onto a future goal or vision. Losing sight of tomorrow makes life unbearable; hope quietly sustains resilience.
8. Beauty and Small Moments Matter
Even in camps, small experiences of beauty—like a violin playing—reconnected prisoners to hope and humanity.
9. Struggle Is Necessary for Growth
Challenges force us to grow. Frankl observed that hardship often reveals inner strength and clarity of purpose.
10. Meaning Is Personal and Situational
Meaning is not abstract; each person faces a unique task that only they can fulfill. It must be discovered, not invented.
That is some pretty powerful stuff, aye? Where I am going with this is here. I am facing adversity. I can find meaning of life during this time, this struggle will make me better, I will appreciate the small good things on the other side of this much better, suffering can be molded, like anything else, good attitude is essential, and meaning exists in all circumstances.
As far as my other favorite book, Meditations, the lessons are just as deep and meaningful.
- Embrace the present moment
- Cultivate inner peace
- Accept change as natural
- Practice empathy and kindness
- Value reason over emotion
- Understand the power of perspective
- Control what you can, accept what you can’t
- Reflect regularly on mortality
- Avoid vanity and ego
- Find strength in adversity
- Live simply and modestly
- Seek wisdom through self-reflection
- Avoid judgment of others
- Pursue virtue over pleasure
- Remember the interconnected of all things
My personal takeaways from that book? Probably my favorite is when he compares life to a river. He basically says that it is passing by you and is gone. There is no reason to stress about the part that has gone by. Focus on what is coming and CAN be changed. My words. His words (one mention of it): “Time is a river, a violent current of events, glimpsed once and already carried past us, and another follows and is gone.”
I could write a whole blog of other things Marcus says in the book, but let’s just say some of them are (OK, I admit it. I highlighted half the book and just picked a few random ones tonight):
“What is outside my mind means nothing to it. Absorb that lesson and your feet stand firm.”
“To be disgruntled at anything that happens is kind of a secession from Nature.”
“Your ability to control your thoughts-treat it with respect.”
“Nowhere you can go is more peaceful-more free of interruptions-than your own soul.”
“Choose not to be harmed, and you won’t feel harmed.”
“Nothing happens to anyone that he can’t endure.”
“What stands in the way becomes the way.”
“The best revenge is not to be like that.”
“Limit yourself to the present.”
“And why should we feel anger at the world? As if the world would notice!”
“Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now take what’s left and live it properly.”
“Because anger, too, is weakness, as much as breaking down and giving up the struggle.”
Before I move on, let’s take a look at the obvious overlapping ideas I am writing about in this piece.
- Control what you can, accept what you can’t
- Find strength (and meaning per, Frankl) in adversity
Ok, fun stuff for a moment, just to take you down memory lane briefly. I will circle back around to the serious shit at the end.
When the Patriots were down 28-3 at halftime against the Falcons in the Super Bowl, do you think Tom Brady was facing a little adversity? You saw two things happen in the second half. That part of the river was done. He embraced the new part of the river. He also showed us his greatness for doing so.
When the Cavaliers were down 3-1 against arguably the greatest team assembled in Golden State, do you think LeBron felt adversity? He did. He accepted he couldn’t change the deficit, and embraced what he COULD control…the rest of the series.
In the Miracle of Istanbul, Liverpool, down 3-0, not only scored three goals to tie it and win in penalty kicks, but they scored those goals all within a six minute time window. After the masses experienced watching the World Cup this year, scoring in soccer is HARD. Using the Jim Rome rule of comparing American football to world football, each goal is worth 14 points in American football. Therefore, the halftime score, in our lingo, was 42-0. Adversity overcome.
The Red Sox not only faced adversity but a curse when down 3-0 in their series vs. the Yankees in 2004. They responded because they embraced the present.
I was at the gym for this one. The Houston Oilers were up 35-3 on the Bills at halftime. I ditched my workout and watched the beginning of the second half. Needless to say, I didn’t really workout that day and just sat in front of the TV at The Center (Mike Trout’s gym back in the day). Adversity confronted.
Rich Strike in the Kentucky Derby. The Kings down 3-0 against the Sharks in 2014. The 2013 America’s Cup Oracle Team. Dave Wottle. The Miracle at Medinah. The list goes on and on.
In life, in sports, in nature, and everywhere else, there is adversity. As Jeff Goldblum said in Jurassic Park, life finds a way. Go watch Rocky beat Drago. Get in the Crane pose from Karate Kid. Channel any anger into productivity, and channel and sadness into self-growth. I don’t know about you, but I am feeling that, and I am simply typing the words. Suddenly, I remember some things. However bad you have it, someone has it much worse. However sad you feel, someone has the right to be sadder. Like I did initially during the onset of the second situation, don’t have a pity party. Be freaking strong.
What have I been doing during my trying times? Nothing revolutionary, but I am channeling the energy into working out at the gym constantly (you find your own outlet), doing housework, playing piano, eating right, meditating daily, and making reminder lists of next things I plan on overcoming. What I am FINALLY doing, after all these years is expanding that space between stimulus and response. I am taking this adversity and processing it, not reacting immediately. I am finding those angles where these situations will make me truly a better person. Life sucks right now, folks. But, I plan on being a better person on the flip side, without a doubt. The next obstacle you face, do the same. If you are feeling that feeling right now like I am, than do it now. Pivot. Refocus. Get better because of the shitty circumstances.
And, if everyone expects that you go down the gutter and zig, then simply zag.
Adversity, you are here, and aren’t going away for a little while. Longer than I want you to stay. But, like anger, I see you, I honor you, and I will disarm you.
And, as soon as I hit publish, that part of the river is now gone, and new stuff is coming my way. And, even if those future waters bring more bad things, I will be ready. Because, meaning exists in all circumstances, struggle is necessary for growth, and attitude is the last human freedom.
And my attitude is pretty freaking good right now…