atrophy doesn't make you stronger

I don't understand why people tend to think that negative things are going to 'make you stronger'. When asked how my job was going, I told my mom, 'it stinks'.

"Well," she said, "at least it will make you a stronger person."

How in the world can a mindless job that bores me to death make me any stronger? If anything, this job is making me weaker...mentally my brain is beginning to feel like baby food swishing around in my head, and while typing and dialing the phone over and over, I can literally feel my muscles all starting to atrophy. Now, if my job was doing sit-ups all day, sure, then it would be making me stronger. I would still probably hate it, but I'd have some damn killer abs!

On one of those reality shows the other night, the 'kicked out' contestant was leaving and said, "this has been an opportunity of a lifetime and it has made me a stronger person." How exactly did it do this? He lost! He's a loser...the ego and confidence drops, the positive outlook decreases, and this somehow relates to strength? I'd argue that by losing, he actually made the winner stronger, not the other way around.

And take tragedies, people are always saying, 'going through this has made me stronger' Really, the only tragedy that I can think of that might possibly make you stronger is if something really heavy fell on top of you...like a satellite or a brick wall or something. It would take a whole lot of muscle power to push that thing off of you. And all that lifting will surely make your arms stronger than they were before. Or the intense leg work that would come from running away from a pack of hungry lions in the jungle. That too would make you stronger. But beyond that, I really don't see that you'll be any stronger for going through something you dislike. So next time someone complains, just agree with them and say, 'yep, you're going to be a weaker son of bitch for going through that'.