There are very few among us who would volunteer for struggles and hardships in life. We may talk a good game, waving away difficulties as an expected part of life and insisting that everyone faces challenges at some time or other, but secretly we hope we will be the one exception. I know I would much prefer that life be easy, pretty and nice all the time, but I have lived long enough to have had a good share of hard, ugly and mean along the way. The irony is that although we dread the hard times, they are often the times when we experience the most profound growth and learn the most valuable lessons. That has certainly been true for me. My most difficult times have taught me more about persistence, patience, sacrifice and gratitude than I ever imagined possible (and a little more than I wanted to know!). I have also come to understand that a bonus of lessons learned the hard way is being able to share your experience with others who may be facing similar circumstances. Your story may spare others some suffering, steer them onto a better course or motivate them to keep fighting the good fight. At the very least, hearing your story lets others know that they are not alone.
Peggy Nolan is a woman who has faced—and conquered—more than a few challenges in life, including a midlife divorce and breast cancer, within two weeks of each other! This woman knows a thing or two about hanging in there through the dark times and she shares her found wisdom on her blog, in her books and on her podcast, Let Go Move Forward. I was honored to be a guest on a recent episode and we compared notes about what we have both learned from hanging tough in tough times. I hope you will give it a listen and I hope you find a word of encouragement there.
Here’s to wishing more of the “good, pretty and nice” in life to all of us!
Love this – an inspirational and positive post and podcast. & I enjoyed hearing about the pineapples that went to Houston!
Thanks, Lucy. the origination of “Pineapples” was such a funny experience. Boy, I had no idea how far south mine would go!
I’m looking forward to listening to the podcast. Tough times really do toughen us up, but it’s so hard to grasp the importance of that during difficult times.
I know–the hard times are much better to talk about AFTER they are long over! In the midst, it’s tough to see how the value outweighs the pain! Thanks for stopping by, Monica.
It’s quite late here but I will pop back for a listen over the weekend when my brain is awake! I couldn’t agree more that the tough times are when we do the most growing and developing (even though we hate them at the time!)
I still argue for the fun, easy lessons, but life doesn’t seem to be on board with that!
And why do we need so many, so often?? I think I’m life learning-impaired! Thank, for stopping by, Leanne.
She has real wisdom to share. You know, everything that happens is a lesson of some sort, even if it’s challenging to think so.
And sometimes don’t you feel you’ve reached your limit of learning lessons and building character? I’d prefer to coast for a while, thanks! 🙂
I work for borderline communists when it comes to streaming audio on my work computer, but it sounds like it is a must listen. I’ll stream it on the way home from work today. Divorce and breast cancer in a two week span. Sheesh!
You cracked me up! I know you can relate to many of these feelings! But we let go and moved on, didn’t we? Yay, us! 🙂
This is so inspirational and just what I needed at the moment!
Thanks so much, Faye. I think I need a hit of inspiration (outside of myself) just about every day. XO
What an inspirational piece! Sharing!
Thanks so much! I appreciate your kids words!
I’ve heard it said that personal growth is a part of the human journey and can be painful at times for sure. I do believe that the lessons learned are all a part of that life journey if we are willing to be open to them. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much for your kind words, Wendy. I wish I’d start getting 100s on all my lessons and get to skip ahead a few! 🙂
I love your positive attitude—this article is inspiring! The bad times certainly do bring a period of growth and enable us to extend a helping hand to others when they experience the same..
Thanks, Marcia! I think you are exactly right–the tough times usually do make us more compassionate toward others and allow us to encourage them when they have tough times!