Spoiler Alert: Fragility Won’t Lead You Anywhere

Becoming Antifragile Is Not Only a Necessity for Yourself, but Also for Those Around You

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Fragility is a phenomenon that takes roots early on in someone’s childhood. Some things are fragile like a glass of wine, a ceramic plate, or a light bulb. If you let your kid play with it, you know full well they’re likely to break it.

Nothing positive will come out of it and you’ll have to clean up their mess afterwards. You’re upset and the kid doesn’t even understand what they did wrong. Instead, we give them sippy cups, which are plastic and resilient.

They can play with it and drop it on the floor without causing all the mayhem the glass of wine did. The same goes with biological systems that become more endurant and solid when we drop them.

The immune system is a classic example. If you protect your kid’s immune system against any dirt, bacteria, and germ, it won’t develop to the point of growing more robust. Strangely enough, our evolution requires us to play with dirt, puts us at risk, and endures pain at the gym to grow stronger.

When our body samples our environment, the immune system, our bones and muscles are being activated. They become antifragile in the face of challenges. However, if you take it…