One thing that hardship gives you, other than a great story is the mental ability to say, “something really bad happened and I survived”, and consequently, “I can survive the next really bad event”.
Seems to me that when crappy things happen to people, it often makes them more fragile in the future. They start believing there is a pattern of misfortune happening to them, and when another bad thing happens, they see it as the same old pattern in action again.
By “broken” I don’t mean “broken into tiny little pieces suitable only for sweeping into the rubbish bin”. I mean something close to your “irreparable damage”.
Seems to me that when crappy things happen to people, it often makes them more fragile in the future. They start believing there is a pattern of misfortune happening to them, and when another bad thing happens, they see it as the same old pattern in action again.
I think it depends on the outcome. If you ultimately succeeded, the adversity made you stronger. But if it broke you, it made you more fragile.
It could also be something in between, such as: You survived, but you suffered some irrepairable damage.
By “broken” I don’t mean “broken into tiny little pieces suitable only for sweeping into the rubbish bin”. I mean something close to your “irreparable damage”.