I was recently a guest on a podcast that I will link below, in case anyone wants to check it out. The hosts of the podcast were great, and they provided a space for me to share a bit more of my story than I have ever shared before. It was an awesome experience and I am glad that I did it even though it is often a bit intimidating when you put yourself and your story out there as authentically as possible. During that interview, they asked me about what I had learned going through some of the difficult things that I had shared. It is a question I have been asked before and my answer is always the same. I would never go back and change the decisions that I made and the things I experienced. As hard as those things were for me to go through and come out of, they were critical to the development of who I am today. They built character, strength and courage in me, but there was something about that topic that I didn’t share with them that I believe is just as important.

My life experiences have proven to me that we go through hard things for a reason, they are the only way that we can learn certain things. You cannot learn perseverance without having to endure. I believe that we have to endure difficult things so that we can learn the lessons available in them, because we are destined to meet people who will need our support as they go through similar experiences and we will not have the knowledge and ability to connect with those specific people if not for the tough things we have walked through. As I considered this topic, I realized that it is akin to learning a language. Because of the things my life path has walked me through, I learned a language that enables me to see, connect and impact those who I am destined to meet. We don’t all speak the same language – figuratively or physically. We don’t all see eye to eye and that is ok. We are not meant to reach and connect with everyone.

We are walking through a world filled with people who speak different languages than we do emotionally. When you meet someone that you connect with, it is often due to shared experiences and perspectives. It is difficult to open up to someone that you feel can’t see you for who you are because they have never experienced some of the things that have been instrumental in creating the person that you are. Those connections are limited. You speak a different language. In my experience, as I walk through the world, I have met people that I can see at a deeper level immediately. These people and I speak the same language. The experiences I have had enable me to connect with them, relate to them and support them in ways that other people can’t. I believe these interactions are predestined.

I might be wrong. These interactions may not be in the cards from the time we were born, but the implications of them are the same regardless. If nothing else, this perspective on the difficult cards that life deals to each and every one of us, enables us to view these experiences through a lens of purpose. If there is no meaning and purpose to life then the difficult things we will inevitably experience have no potential for a positive purpose. I would rather view these hardships as a stepping stone to a new connection where the pain I walk through turns into an opportunity for healing and support in someone I will someday encounter. It takes the worst parts of life and turns them into some of the most impactful and meaningful moments in the adventure story that is life. That is the kind of life I have always wanted to live, an adventure, so instead of viewing my past through the lens of a victim and lamenting the struggles I’ve had, I will embrace them for the lessons they taught me and carry them boldly into the future, inviting those I encounter to partake of the gold I gleaned from them. We don’t know what languages we will speak at the end of our lives, but I know that whatever they are, they will enable me to connect with some incredible people along the way and that makes the journey worthwhile.