4 Life-Changing Principles that Will Push You Through Any Challenge

We all have to overcome challenges in life. Whether we think we have it harder or easier, there will inevitably be times when our strength and temperance will be tested, and we’ll have to show what we’re made of to come out on top. 

Few people know more about challenges than Patric Young, who, after having left a successful career as a professional NBA player, suffered an accident that caused him to become paralyzed from the waist down. 

After our recent interview with Patric, I believe 4 principles led to him overcoming his situation, maintaining his positivity, and inspiring countless people worldwide to remain strong through difficult situations. These are the 4 changing principles that Patric applies to achieve this:

1. Practice Gratitude 

Gratitude allows us to appreciate and focus on the positive things we have in our lives rather than punishing ourselves for what we lack. In his words, “Gratitude is not always the easy choice. Oftentimes gratitude is the hardest choice when you're in the middle of something out of your control. It's hard. It sucks. And yet you're saying I'm choosing to focus my mind on things that I'm thankful that I do have at this moment.” 

Gratitude seems simple, but it can be challenging to practice. When Patric had the accident, he could’ve brought himself down for no longer being able to walk after having built a career and a sense of self-worth based on his physical prowess. Instead, he focused on what he DID have and fought to preserve those things. 

2. Surround Yourself with a Supportive Community 

Having positive people around you is essential to long-term happiness, and their support can be the defining factor in whether you can overcome adversity. 

For Patric, his wife, mother, child, and mentors supported him through his most demanding challenges, emotionally and by helping through any possible means. Instead of going through the worst of his storms alone, he decided that real strength can be found by allowing people to pick up the parts of you that are weak in the moment. 

Not everybody likes feeling like they NEED someone or something, but you can still be strong, independent, and free even if someone intervenes in your weakest moments. And remember, you can always pay it forward by being that person for others. 

3. Choose Faith over Fear

Fear makes you see the future as something bleak and painful, which can paralyze you or cause you to make careless decisions. The irony of fear is that, just like faith, it comes from absolute trust in something unseen and isn’t always driven by rationality. 

Choosing faith allows you the confidence to act and make better decisions moving forward. As Patric says, “Fear and faith have this in common: they're both based on things in the future that have not happened yet. So why choose fear?” 

4. Live Life Intentionally

Have you ever found yourself living by inertia as if everything was on autopilot, not paying attention to yourself? It happens to almost everyone. The problem is we don’t know how long we have on this Earth. We all know we have an expiration date, so why choose to live even a second of it without understanding how we can impact others?

The enemy of your purpose is not failure. It’s living casually. To serve a real purpose, our actions must be driven by the intention and the reality that it’s possible to make a positive impact in the world.

Otherwise, we’ll quickly get caught by the inertia of day-to-day life and go back to living on autopilot. 

Learning to Push Through Any Challenge

As simple as these principles seem, they are some of the hardest choices you could make in your daily life. For Patric, it took a near-fatal car crash to realize everything he had in his life. In the middle of his worst storm, he chose gratitude, support, faith, and intention. These 4 principles are what made him into the man he is today.

Words can hardly express the infectious joy and confidence that Patric exudes. Be sure to tune into the whole episode and really let these principles sink in so you can apply them to your daily life.