Through hardship we discover passion

By Barbara Steingas

Our biggest challenges in life lead to passion and our experience with struggle fuels purpose. It is through these challenges we discover our inner strengths and courage. We become more than we ever thought we could be. This is also how we can give back to the world. We give back by helping others who are experiencing similar challenges and by sharing our trials and tribulations and how we got through them.

Struggle fuels purpose and helps us discover our passion

When I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease after graduating college, I didn’t realize this trip down a dark rabbit hole would end up becoming my mission and purpose in life. Yet, it didn’t occur to me at the time, because I was just trying to survive every day. It wasn’t until I found my way back to health that I realized I accomplished something thought impossible and had to find a way to share it with others so they could do what I did. Then it made sense to me why God didn’t answer my prayers when I asked him to take me to the other side when I was suffering so much with pain and weakness from being so sick.

Hardship and finding our life’s work

God wasn’t done giving me major challenges to work through, though. Ten years ago, after thirteen years of marriage, my husband passed away from a sudden heart attack. I had lost other family members in my life, but this was the first devastating loss that caused me to experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It was also the first time I experienced the full gamut of the grieving process. I didn’t realize my passion for helping people was going to include assisting others through grief until I experienced a second major loss.

Three years after my husband passed, I met a new love. Three years after that, when we were about to get engaged, he also passed away due to diabetic ketoacidosis, a fatally high blood sugar level condition.

Afterward, I became like Darth Vader and went to the dark side for several days. I felt having gone through my own health challenge, losing my late husband, and now losing my fiancé, was too much and caused me to temporarily lose my passion. I declared to God that I was done doing this mission work and that we were enemies.

Three days later, after spewing my anger fully without editing it, a weight lifted from my heart. The anger was gone. I told God I was sorry, and that my temper tantrum was over. Going into the depths of despair and not staying victim to my circumstances, helped me understand that this was part of my mission in helping others.

Rising above struggle

When we rise above our biggest and darkest struggles, we can shine our light on the world. Sometimes it’s hard to stay passionate because life’s challenges can overwhelm us. We are all meant to transform from being a victim of our circumstances to becoming the heroine/hero of our journey. That’s where the juice and passion in our lives come from. We learn so much more about ourselves. We also appreciate what is important in life more so than if we didn’t have struggles.

So, embrace your tough times. Allow those times to help you shine your light more radiantly. In the end, you will become not only stronger but the best person you were meant to be.

Are you having difficulty with a tough time? Mind Key has resources that can help you move through grief, anger and frustration, and see the growth happening behind the scenes. Our goal is to connect you with the right resources for you right now. Share your biggest obstacles in the comments, or contact Danielle@mindKEY.me for a free mini-discovery consult, and see what resources we can connect you with today.