Struggle Means Growth
My youngest daughter reached out to me last night regarding some of her struggles in adapting to a new life in college and some other personal challenges she has had over the years. As I wrote my motherly response I became aware, acutely, that we all suffer. There isn’t a human among us, not even a monk I’m fairly sure, that lives life without emotional pain. Perhaps that is what we as humans share and have the most in common. Life throws at us challenges, pain, hurdles, landmines (or so they feel like), and even natural catastrophes that we have to face, whether we like it or not!
So here was my reply to her text (slightly edited) and I hope that you can find it validating for you as well.
Grace, I know you will be OK. Cross that worry off your list 😊. What I do feel is relieved you are not holding all your worries inside and that you are letting them out by sharing through your texts. I also felt your realness and humanity. I too have been going up and down as well and always have—even Pam, even Marilyn, even Candy and especially even Maria who deviated from her normal place of peace yesterday.
I listened to my new Podcast coach who was interviewing Pam—the same. They were both expressing the lows in the valley as a common experience. I think perhaps this is the human experience. I’m convinced more than ever we are on this planet with the sole purpose to evolve. No struggle? Well then there is no possibility to learn and grow. Struggle is to make us stronger. I also believe that struggle is there and anger and frustration to motivate us. Once we reach a threshold which we can no longer tolerate, we make change.
I know you have been valiantly facing each day. I hear you not giving up and keep showing up. I’m so very proud of you because that takes inner strength and courage.
I understand your class being a HUGE disappointment, but you chose it for all the right reasons. You made the best decision for you at that time to take that class. Sometimes we have to gamble and take a risk. At times the result is not a fit, but we have to gamble and try because it makes life interesting. By not experimenting with something out of our comfort zone, we simply stay zombies in a boring rut.
Life is here to try, to taste, to experiment with. You are trying and experimenting. It’s like going into a dressing room with the hopes of what you found in the boutique will work. You won’t know until you try on those cute finds if they are a fit. Same with everything in life. So…keep going to the boutiques, pulling off the shelves what looks beautiful to you and try on! (Apply to life, clearly).
I love you,
Mom