Chaos, uncertainty, instability, unforeseen events, hyper connectivity, loneliness, anxiety, etc. Our society could be defined by these adjectives and many others that take center stage in times of crisis. In the midst of this scenario, there is a survival strategy: learning to be anti-fragile, an interesting resource presented by essayist Nassim Nicholas Taleb in 2012.
Surviving and thriving in such a changing and difficult scenario is, to say the least, difficult. However, it is not only people who simply survive it; some even manage to take advantage of periods of turbulence like these.
- Also.
- When defining this term.
- It is common to use the metaphor of the hydra.
- The mythical serpent almost impossible to destroy.
- When his head was cut off.
- Two more of his wounds appeared.
This image describes in a way personalities capable of reacting independently of stress, pain and difficulty.
Obviously, applying this approach in life is not easy, first it is necessary to go through a stage of greater weakness to become aware of what a defeat really is, which involves falling to the bottom for a while.
Only when we learn of adversity can we heal psychological wounds by covering them with a new material, as strong as carbon, to return, according to Taleb, as “anti-fragile”.
Nassim Taleb published The Black Swan in 2007, where he talked about these unexpected and unpredictable events that occasionally occur in our world. One way or another, this financier and researcher, a mathematician at New York University, forced us to realize that people have become accustomed to taking many things for granted, leaving little room for the “chaos factor,” which occasionally changes any area of our reality.
A black swan is, for example, an economic or health crisis, but it can also be a personal loss, an unexpected failure, etc.
To assume that we cannot control everything was undoubtedly the first lesson that Taleb gave us with his book, however, five years later we were surprised again, this time with another mandate, another idea that complemented the previous proposal.
To get around this uncertain lake where from time to time it is possible to see a black swan, it is better to learn to be anti-fragile, why would you do that?Very simple: deal with the stress caused by the unexpected, develop a balanced, attentive and competent approach, survive any chaotic situation, any difficult, unexpected and complex experience.
Nassim Taleb explains in his book that humans can demonstrate three types of behavior in the face of any difficult event.
The field of anti-frailty begins, fundamentally, in the economic field. The resilience, in turn, of the world of physics.
Even so, these concepts have been decisively projected in the field of psychology and, above all, in the field of personal growth, so many wonder if the two ideas do not describe the same reality, the answer is no.
Resilience defines our ability to adapt to, learn from, and strengthen adverse situations. Being anti-fragile goes beyond simple adaptation to complicated, uncertain or demanding times. He benefits. It’s about positioning yourself competently, seeing uncertainty as an opportunity for growth and power.
Moreover, antifrility is undoubtedly the result of one’s own fragility, only when we feel the effects of the chaos of fate on ourselves can we strengthen our skin, our hearts and our mental focus to understand that we must react, and we do not. it is enough to defend against difficulties, it is necessary to act with ingenuity to thrive in times of crisis.
We know this: we are not hydra and we would not want to be, learning to be anti-fragile does not mean becoming hard-skinned and cold-skinned monsters, in fact, this concept has nothing to do with aggression. Actually, we should work on the following dimensions:
In conclusion, learning to be anti-fragile can be an ideal survival strategy for many moments, we will learn from these interesting proposals to take a step further in our life project.