Trust Your Struggle

As much as we dislike struggling, we all go through it. We may not want to; but as I’ve realized, it’s necessary.

Recently, this has honestly weighed heavily on me. My mind has been constantly racing with the struggles of life. This week in particular I’ve been back and forth with a few things. However, I received a bit of a reminder this week that I can’t allow these struggles to cause me to give up.

So the other night as I was coming home from a concert waiting for the bus, I met this man. As I waited he looked and said, “since you’re here, I have to vent to you”. So I laughed and said, ok. He begins to tell me that he left his laptop at work after the company party. And how it was ironic being that he’s the head IT guy for the company. This then led to further conversation after asking whether I was working late in the city as well.
I’ m a very detailed person when sharing an experience, but to make a long story short lol… He offered me his portable charger so it led us to conversing on the bus about life, work, music, growing up, so forth and so on. We both shared several stories, and I mentioned my writing of course. He asked what I wanted to do with it; and I shared how I aspire to motivate, encourage and inspire others through relatable challenging experiences.

We talked about my struggle and how things weren’t always (truth be told, still isn’t) the best. After sharing a little, he said, “so I guess that (my struggle) made your life better.” And I thought about it, and said yes. He then went on to say, if you never went through what you went through, you wouldn’t have anything to write about. In other words, I wouldn’t be able to encourage, motivate, and inspire anyone else. He continued to share words of encouragement with me. Everything I’ve gone through made me the person that I am. He shared a few very kind words about what he could see in me from our conversation. He also encouraged me to continue to write no matter what obstacle comes my way. I don’t even know if this man realized how much he inspired and motivated me to keep on going.

I shared all of this to say, every single struggle is for a purpose. There’s something greater behind it. We can’t allow it to hinder our progress, we have to learn to press through it. And when we’ve overcome, we have a story to share. We’ll be able to reach people in ways we probably can’t even imagine. To be able to relate to someone who has gone through the very same thing you’ve gone through, gives them hope. They’ll see that if you were able to get through it, why not them. So let’s learn to look at the bigger picture. It may be uncomfortable now, but in the long run it’ll all be beneficial to your growth. Trust, all that you go through isn’t in vain!