Humans Are Made to Be Antifragile

Have you heard of the term antifragile? 

Do you know what it means? 

A term coined in 2012 by Nassim Taleb, antifragility refers to the phenomenon of things getting stronger when exposed to stressors. 

This is more than resilience, which is merely not breaking in the face of adversity. Antifragile things actually grow STRONGER in response to adversity. 

Many examples of antifragility exist in nature. 

With trees, the strongest root systems are created when trees have to endure long periods without water or are exposed to high-level winds.

Baby chicks need to be allowed to break out of their shells independently to fare well in the wild. 

Human babies learning to walk fall down over and over and over. It is the effort of repeatedly standing back up that makes babies' legs strong enough to eventually walk. 

Muscles grow bigger and bones grow denser from repetitive stress. No one goes to the gym looking for the smallest weights available. (Okay maybe some people do, but that's not the point :) Weight trainers push their muscles to their capacity hoping they will be able to lift heavier and heavier weights over time. 

The immune system needs to be introduced to many forms of bacteria to grow stronger. Keeping a child in a sterile environment actually cripples their immunity. 

As an endurance athlete, I have experienced cardiovascular adaptation. Over the course of many months--even years--long periods of daily aerobic activity triggers the cells of the body to produce increased numbers of mitochondria (the energy producer of the cell). As a result, you can run, bike, or swim (or all three!) longer and faster over time.  

These are all examples of physical antifragility. 

But humans were also built to be mentally and emotionally antifragile. Our brain's capacity improves as we feed it more complex information. And our emotional “window of tolerance” increases as we expose it to manageable stressors. 

Some examples if manageable stressors include engaging in musical education, playing competitive sports--individual or team, taking cold showers or ice baths, solving math problems, practicing martial arts, and setting and achieving goals. 

Instead of wanting our kids to be “happy” all of the time, we actually want them to be antifragile. This will serve them much better in the long run, regardless of the challenges and adversity they face in their future.