Struggle. A concept I only seem to think about when I witness pain and suffering around me, or when I’m in pain myself. But the moment the experience passes, the emotions associated with it fade away. As if I didn’t see. As if I didn’t feel.
Lately, though, I’ve started finding peace in going back to those moments that brought struggle into my life. I start by asking myself: What was all of it for? Was it worth it? And for the most part, I didn’t feel I’d gained anything from the things I wished I hadn’t experienced.
But struggle isn’t always like hitting the gym, lifting some weights, feeling sore, and being happy about it because your muscles are responding just the way you wanted them to. I mean, every time I leave the gym without feeling sore, I ask myself: What went wrong?
But when I looked at struggle again, I thought: Wait a second.
Struggle isn’t the movement you go through. It’s the gym. The jogging path. The hike. Your perspective is how you move through it.
And the learning doesn’t come from what happens to you. You can get smacked in life, have your wallet taken away, and end up walking home with a swollen cheek and empty pockets, feeling nothing but embarrassed.
But embracing the experience adds a nice twist to it. Well, you’ll still be walking home alone with a swollen cheek, and nobody’s giving you that wallet back. But you’ll have something to say about it: the fight you put up, the courage you showed in that moment.
The event becomes a kind of exchange rather than just a robbery. You gave something up: your peace, your money, your time, your trust. But you got something in return that has value. Sometimes, a great deal of value.
But why is any of this important?
It’s like the weather. If you have seasons, you’re going to go through them. And even if you don’t, you might still swing between extremes. Cold, then too cold. Hot, then too hot. Dry, then rainy. You gotta be ready.
An umbrella, for example, might come in handy. A tool you forget about for most of the year but can grab when you need it.
So perspective is your tool. It won’t shield your skin, but it can shield your soul, your spirit, and your sense of worth. We’re here, and we know we’re here. But being here without that inner eye feels shallow.
Now, looking back at the struggle I went through in life, I have to admit: it didn’t really feel like struggle at the time.
This sentence drives my wife crazy. Her standard of living was way higher than mine. To her, I was dead poor, from a dead poor family.
But why didn’t I feel that much worse off than everyone else? It was perspective. If you weren’t among those who managed to get into a lifeboat when the Titanic started going down, would you have felt unluckier than the people going down with you?
Anyway, I’m choosing not to finish this post because I need to get ready for dinner in an hour. And honestly, it’s okay not to finish a piece you’re writing.
Look at this post like a life. Sometimes, if not often, it just ends with an interruption you weren’t ready for. So finishing this one doesn’t really matter that much.
Thank you!
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