Rising From the Dead
Many people who go through a difficult experience, whether physical or emotional, often report coming out on the other side a changed person. This makes perfect sense to me, because from my perspective change (or revelation) is the purpose of hardship in life. Without adversity there can be no victory. Without challenge, no triumph. With no teacher…no lesson.
The old question of why do bad things happen to good people, I believe, comes back to this very same principle. It’s through these difficulties that we learn to overcome and reveal the very best of what we’ve got deep down inside. If we don’t get there, adversity will probably return until we do. Ask any successful person when they made their greatest strides in personal growth and chances are they did it during a personal recession and not during a boom.
I recently went through a bit of a miniature personal recession that got me thinking about this topic. I had lots of time to think, as for nearly two weeks I got about two hours of sleep per night. My son was sick and required a lot of one on one in order to sleep himself, and it was in ways that made it impossible for my husband and I to sleep. Unfortunately when I came down with his virus the little bugs were able to make a very happy home in my sleep deprived body! So when my son was back to sleeping on his own, I was still awake!
Every parent can probably identify with this situation. We all go through it. But rather than let this opportunity for growth go to waste, I spent a lot of time in contemplation during the wee hours of the morning, whether I was holding my sleeping (or not sleeping) son or if I was holding my own head, wondering when I would be able to breathe again. I realized that there were things I was doing that were not in alignment with my core beliefs that I believe probably contributed to the illness. I also discovered how out of balance my life has been – all work and no play!
With this extra time I was able to make a plan of action. I didn’t wait until I felt better to get started, though. I couldn’t afford to wait another moment. I re-evaluated our family diet and identified exactly where we needed to start making improvements, and made those changes as quickly as possible. I recognized my physical activity deficit and decided on something I can both do at home and would be fun enough for me to stick with and made the purchases needed to do it. I am hoping these improvements will solve my out-of-balance problem and make my family healthier while we do it.
Yes, everyone gets sick. But why, as it has been said, let a good crisis go to waste? The next time you are under the weather, use that time for self-reflection and see if there’s anything in your life that needs to be cleaned up, tossed out or added. That way when you rise from the dead, the new life you have will be better than ever!
