I don’t believe in weaknesses, only hidden strength or opportunity. It took me 18 years (and nine months in the womb) for me to learn that lesson. 

Before I explain any further, I think it’s important to give a lil’ background of my life to make my point. 

My full name is Le Xuan Hieu. I was born in the province of Phu Yen, Vietnam. More specifically, the county called Bai Dong in the city of Song Cau. I’m the youngest out of eight siblings (three brothers and four sisters). 

I lived there in that beautiful country for nine years and then immigrated here to Fargo, North Dakota (where it’s very cold). 

Along with it came a world of new wonders. For example, new people speaking in a foreign language, idioms like it was raining cats and dogs (a phrase that made me look up to the sky) and snow (still very cold). 

But with it came some setbacks. I couldn’t speak or write English. I didn’t have the best home life because my parents often fought and never spoke to me unless necessary. I never had the motivation to talk unless necessary. And I missed my homeland. 

This made me insecure and withdrew into a dark place. I alienated from the friends I had from elementary and middle school, and even high school because I thought I wasn’t good enough in several aspects, like talking. I hated how I looked because the abundance of food made me bigger and tired. The environment was cold and dry which made it harder to breathe at night, leading to poorer sleep everyday and made my skin break out with eczema, which made me wear a sweater all the time in public. And a ton of other problems I’ve yet to remember. 

However looking back, I would say I am grateful for those obstacles.

Without being socially inept, I probably wouldn’t have found psychology, have a drive to be a better person, anime, wisdom and so on. Without being bad at English, I wouldn’t have joined speech and debate, built confidence and knew how to speak my mind, found a correct way to breathe. If it weren’t for all those struggles, I would probably be a very boring person.

So that’s what I mean by turning your weaknesses into strengths. The key word there is turning, meaning you have to be creative and strategic about how to do that. Sometimes, you don’t need to find solutions. All you need is the drive and the motivation, things weaknesses and problems provide, to finally do something more effectively or more consistently. For example, exercising, go out of your comfort zone and eating healthily, 

Without having problems we lose sight of why something is important.

Without having problems or having everything figured out for you, we become complacent and even sometimes apathetic (you don’t know how people who were at their worst feels and thus don’t know how to communicate or connect with them). 

Sometimes, luck lies in tragedy. I think in America, not many are aware of this, and thus their lives are worse than it could’ve been if they had this mindset. Some are not aware because they can’t, provided that they’ve lived near-perfect lives and privileged. 

Let me tell you another story. I didn’t get my drivers license in my summer ED’s class (which sucked because I couldn’t sing Olivia’s Rodrigo’s “Drivers License”). To be fair, I only had six hours of practice and not all of us are naturals. However, with that setback, I acquired a drive to do better. I did the 50 recommended hours with my dad in the car, driving an hour every day. 

That’s what failure got me. I got me riding with my dad so he could teach more about driving. I avoided unnecessary accidents and how to correct maintain a car.

So when you think you are in a deep trouble or an unfortunate situation, think of the many things you can learn and gain. Often failures are more beneficial to your growth than success. Being successful makes you complacent, it dulls you.

Failure increases your drive to be and do better.

Look for the good in the bad. If you’re going to fall, fall forward. If you’re going to suffer, suffer better.

“You desire to know the art of living, my friend? It is contained in one phrase: make use of suffering.” – Henri Frédéric Amiel.

Signing off, with optimism,

Hieu Le