Introvert Talks - Ample Doses Of Pain And Suffering

Welcome to Introvert Talks!

"Introvert Talks" is meant to be a new initiative or theme, where I myself as an introvert, just talk about reflections and thoughts about my life, or maybe share more personal stuff. :)

This is my weekly post under this "Introvert Talks" theme and let's see where it takes me and us.

I am just going to talk to myself this week, since this week's topic is slightly controversial too.

Nvidia CEO and founder Jenson Huang was at Stanford University earlier this year, and he said this to the students, "I’d wish upon you ample doses of pain and suffering."

You are probably thinking what on earth did he mean?

So here's an extract of his sharing:

"Most Stanford graduates have very high expectations, and you deserve to have high expectations because you came from a great school. You were very successful. You were top of your class. Obviously, you were able to pay for tuition. And then you’re graduating from one of the finest institutions on the planet. You’re surrounded by other kids that are just incredible. People with very high expectations have very low resilience. And unfortunately, resilience matters in success. I don’t know how to teach it to you except that I hope suffering happens to you. And so if I could wish upon you — I don’t know how to do it — but for all of you Stanford students, I’d wish upon you ample doses of pain and suffering."

In case you are not familiar with Nvidia, they are one of the biggest company in the world now, having overtaken Apple and Microsoft earlier this year, and they are just taking turns to lead the ranking these days.

Alright back to his controversial statement. In a split second, I also laughed and thought he was not making any sense. But after pondering about what he said, and thinking a little deeper, I realised he made a lot of sense. Resilience is so important as an personal trait, and it's really something that can't be taught.

Reflecting on my life, fortunately (or unfortunately), I did have ample doses of pain and suffering. Some are too personal or sensitive to share, but when I looked at these unpleasant episodes, I realised the common denominator was I grew and matured a lot indeed.

The hardships "forced" me to level up my skills to get myself out of the unpleasant situation.

The hardships sometimes made me change my views about life, and realise what is really important and what is not important after all.

So what Nvidia CEO said was indeed true. And ironically, on hindsight (of course), I am actually glad that some of these "pain and suffering" happened because after going through them, not only I have built some resilience and character, I emerged as a happier person, and have learnt to be more thankful and more appreciative of the little things in life.

So that's my introverted talk for this week!

What are your thoughts? Do you agree with the statement too? Share with me below!