I’ve been around the block a few times; everyone who reaches their late 50s has.
One of the most memorable was in 2000. We had moved into a new house with construction error. Long story short, I ended up bed-ridden from black mold, my immune system weakened, my mitochondria damage, and my mind scrambled.
Fast forward to 2006, my husband and I decide to quit our day jobs, move to Montana, and start an organic beef business from scratch. We left everything familiar for rural living, home-educating, and living off the land. We survived floods, drought, fires, and yes, pestilence.
Latest time around the block…2022. I slip a vertebra over another one in my back due to silent spinal degeneration. Once again, I ended up in bed, riddled with pain and a referral for a fusion.
What do these events have in common? A lesson. Every challenge does. But I have learned, while talking to people, that not everyone is interested in learning while in pain. I admit, it is quite hard, but doable. You may ask, “Dr. Jane, why would you care what lesson there is when you are suffering?” I am glad you asked. We learn for two reasons: first, we want to learn how to get out of our misery, and two, we want to learn how to not let it happen again.
It is too easy to take the victim route when we are suffering by listening to voices that say give up, it’s too complicated to find better answers, or my favorite, it’s God’s will. I’ve listened to these opinions and suffered more, not less. It was only when I decided to take matters into my own hands, and trust God for answers, that I learned to heal. I researched online, read articles, found testimonials, prayed, and talked to people. In the end, I had to decide whether to listen to what I learned or reject it. You’d be surprised how many people are offended when you don’t join their pity parties on your behalf, but that is another article. Hope is unpleasant to the hopeless.
What I have learned is that every obstacle we face, with a fixed determination that says, “I won’t quit. I won’t stop until I find my answers,” the stronger we grow. And the stronger we grow, the more success we can achieve in the next problem, and so on. The reason this is important is that we need to know how powerful we are. We do not lose our consent just because we are brought low. No one can make us give up. Alternatively, no one can hand us our success. Only we can occupy our lives and we do that when we decide to not quit day in and day out. Even if everyone around you says it won’t work, find a way, and join the destiny of humanity as the overcomers we are.
Onward and Upward!
