Who hasn’t had a tough time? Who hasn’t had those times that make or break a person’s’ self-esteem,or the times that make a person stronger or that make them weak? The song lyrics, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” by Kelly Clarkson, are not only catchy but very true. These difficult situations happen every day, affecting people all over the world. Difficult situations can affect people in ways that make a person stronger and ways that make them weaker.

Difficult situations can make a person stronger by the way he or she allows the situation to impact them. For example, if a fun family of four loses their house in a raging, uncontrollable, fire, that consumes objects in its path, but there was no loss of life, it can impact the family positively. Realizing the importance of the close-knit-bunch called family over material things can change the way he or she conducts his or her life. It can bring a family closer, stronger, and more together than ever before. In addition, another difficult situation one can overcome is the loss of a loved one. When a loved one passes away many feel crushed, afraid, and broken. They feel like their whole wide world has come tumbling down to the ground. Believe it or not, this situation can affect a person for the better. If the loved one passes away from lung cancer due to the life long addiction to smoking, this can promote a person to make better choices and save themselves from the slow suicide they are committing with every cigarette they smoke. Therefore, there are many ways difficult situations can affect a person in a positive way.

Tough times can affect people in a way that does not make them stronger, but makes them weak. It can affect them in a way that brings them down and make them feel unloved and worthless. An example of an adverse situation bringing an insecure student down into the dumps, is when the student allows a bully to define who they are. When listening to a bully, one begins to believe what they say. The bully begins to have complete control over the person, making themselves conscious about the teeny tiny flaws. They begin to lose self-esteem and they begin to believe the lies of the big, bad, bully. In return, feelings of despair, depression and worthlessness begin to invade their mind like little aliens of depression, and they feel like their life is not worth anything and, in some cases, they end it all. In addition to bullying, losing a job is another example of a tough time that can bring someone down. The loss of a job can cause financial problems and financial trouble can cause people to act in extreme ways. If circumstances get awful enough, a stressed father, trying to provide for his family, may even break the law to make ends meet. The father might steal to provide for himself and his family, or sell illegal substances all because of the problems of finances. This type of behavior can lead to major life changing consequences, such as jail. Difficult times can have many negative effects on a person’s’ life.

Therefore, difficult times can influence people positively by making them stronger, and negatively by making them weaker. Each person deals with tough situations in their own unique way. They can make or break a person in the blink of an eye. As you can see Kelly Clarkson’s song isn’t just a head-bopping-catchy-tune, but a life lesson. It teaches us to learn from our difficult situations, and climb over the huge mountains keeping us from overcoming them. Overall, rough times can change lives forever.