Is it true 'What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger'?

Friedrich Nietzsche was a famous German philosopher who had written countless books on existentialism and the meaning of life. He is considered a nihilist and his view on life have always been thought to provoke and highly to motivate.

The man had once famously proclaimed that ‘That which does not kill us makes us stronger.' This statement has amassed a lot of popularity and also been the subject of many debates. There are a lot of scientific and psychological reasons as to why this statement holds truth.

Scientific Meaning

Any traumatic situation takes a toll on us, but often it is the contemplating part that makes a person weaker or instills fear in their heart. Take for example the fear of traveling alone, now the actual traveling may be a bit stressful and make a person nervous but once you have traveled the fear is over, and that particular situation does not affect you anymore. Scientists suggest that people who have experienced difficulties are better off as they become all the more resilient and are more equipped with dealing with challenges. Another purely scientific example of this is bacteria that are not entirely killed by an antibiotic, mutate and become immune.

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Psychological Meaning

Looking from a psychological point of view, every life experience adds up to make you a wiser and a stronger person. Every ordeal that a person goes through prepares them to face more challenges which are why psychologist is of the view that trauma is transformative. Once our mind finds the strength to get past a tough situation or an ordeal, it is more equipped with changing problems in the future. On the contrary, a person who has not been through a similar life altering situations would live in fear and break down at the very prospect of difficulties.

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Those Who Are Not In Favor Of It

There are a lot of people though who completely disagree with this statement and believe that what doesn’t kill them does not make them stronger. Instead, it gives a person very destructive coping mechanism. Pain, as Nietzsche said, is inevitable but people have gradually assigned it powers that can make their life better. It's rather a pattern that brain follows every time something happens and associate it with a co-occurring event, they take problems as the divines way of bringing meaning into their life.

For example, pigeons that are caged and receive food at random intervals will associate the timing of the food received with their behavior at the time of the food received. So to get more food, they will repeat that behavior, the pigeons can be termed as superstitious as they have associated meaning to two occurrences that are non-related.

Humans to rationalize their pain and problems most bizarrely and it became an unhealthy coping mechanism for them. So, accordingly a person who is strong has always been so, and hardship has nothing to do with it.

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So, what are your thoughts on this famous saying by Nietzsche, have difficulties made you a better and stronger person or did they break you down.

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