Turning Suffering into Strength

Suffering is something we’ve all experienced to some degree and I believe it’s safe to say it is something we wish we could avoid. The thing about hardship is that it can potentially make or break us. It’s how we respond that makes all the difference. It seems when we are going through it, it has a way of making us feel like it will never end. Pain tends to distort our reality, making it easy to lose hope. But what if we could reframe how we go through suffering, could it make a difference?

One of the first things that many of us have thought when going through suffering is “why me?”. What if we changed that question to, “why not me?”, or even possibly to, “what can I learn through this?”. Perspective is a powerful thing as it can take us from feeling sorry for ourselves and allowing the suffering to define or consume us to a place to where we realize we have options to move forward.

When we take the focus off ourselves we quickly come to the realization that there are always those who have it worse than ourselves. I’m not belittling anything that someone is going through and know that it may be the hardest thing you have ever dealt with. Just the physical act of looking past ourselves can give us a small break from our thoughts and our pain. The bigger thing it does for us is that it gives us empathy. Until you’ve gone through something gut-wrenching it is hard to understand the plight of others.

I find through this process it can lead us to a place of thankfulness. You can choose to be bitter but my choice would always be to embrace gratitude. When you go through the exercise of being thankful you will discover there is always something however small it may seem to be thankful for. The more we grow the list of things we are thankful for, the more our outlook changes. It’s in that moment that we move from despair to hope.

Hope comes in many forms and expands outward as we embrace it. The first light we often see at the end of the tunnel is usually for ourselves and brings a new found power that we didn’t know existed. I choose to put my hope in God and find it opens up things I never could have imagined. One of the most unexpected sources of hope is what we give to others. When people see that they are not alone in their suffering they find encouragement through our example or our support.

A strength is found when we change our mind and decide to be the victor and not the victim. I don’t know where you are on the spectrum of suffering but I know that if we change our perspective, have empathy for others and develop an attitude of gratitude we can find hope for ourselves and those around us. Resilience isn’t just about surviving suffering, it’s about transforming it into a pillar of strength that uplifts both ourselves and those around us.

By René Boecking | explorewithrene.com