Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.
~ Nelson Mandela
When life seems reasonable, few of us feel compelled to look deeper. We ride the high of ease, coasting on the feel-good sensations and life’s great moments. Then, when those moments fade, we are left with what has been there all along, without the feel-good chemicals that kept us distracted.
Just as a person with an addiction often needs to hit rock bottom before they seek help, many of us need to get messed up before we can step up our game. Disruption, loss, disorientation, ego collapse, and disappointment all mess with our sense of self. It is here that we need to examine and reframe our perceived ideas of what those sentiments mean.
There is a paradox at the heart of transformation. Comfort numbs our growth, while disruption has a way of splitting us open to ourselves. Ease dulls the edges, and upheaval may sharpen them.
Struggles are real, yet a simple reframe can change it: viewing it as an initiation rather than a failure. Each of us has a threshold to our own bottom. Our trauma leaves scars; it also forms us into who we are. However, being shaped by experience is inevitable; being defined by it is optional.
The disruption exposes what comfort conceals. When the facade of ‘I’m fine’ collapses, the truth underneath becomes clear.
The soul always has ways of engineering growth, and they often come at turning points. I am of the firm belief that life is not happenstance. Even the slightest interruption can redirect the entire trajectory of a life; the most minor shift may accelerate the most significant change.
And often life leaves breadcrumbs long before we recognize the path they form. Because we cannot see the bigger picture, we cannot understand the reasons for the roadblock. Clarity often arrives once the dust settles.
Awakening doesn’t look the same for everyone. Some of us need a sharper jolt than others. The depth of disruption is not a gauge of spiritual maturity’s worth or readiness. Some patterns cling tightly, requiring more than one to fall before they finally loosen.
Hitting bottom can be a doorway disguised as collapse, yet it instead leads us to a path of alignment. Ease is not the marker of a meaningful life. Awareness is. An evolved life asks us to meet discomfort with curiosity, rather than resistance. So revel in the mess. Growth requires friction. By releasing the shame around the disruptions, we make room for what wants to rise. Are you ready to step up?
I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.
~Maya Angelou
