The saying is that what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger, but sometimes you must doubt this age-old wisdom. Why is it so hard to see the silver lining when you’re stuck in the middle of life’s storms? Going through pain certainly changes you, but not all changes you experience are bad.
Once you clear out all the cobwebs of your trouble, you will begin to see the lessons that these storms taught you. Take, for instance, someone who goes through a hurricane for the first time. The second time around, they do things entirely differently because they’ve learned how to weather these storms.
Why are people so much more intelligent the second time around? You learn and grow when you’ve already been through the situation once. While dealing with the storms of life are never more manageable, you will learn and grow from these experiences.
Life Lessons You Learn from Going Through Pain
People hate weathering these storms, but can you imagine the sun shining every day? How would the flowers get water to maintain their beauty, and how would they grow? See, the storms arrive to help you grow and become better.
When you wallow in your agony and feel sorry for yourself, you’ve become a victim and not learned a thing. Here are some things that can help you deal with your painful situations and learn lessons.
1. You Learn from Your Mistakes
Going through pain can remind you that there’s no such thing as a perfect person. You’re human, and making mistakes is inevitable. When you mess up, it’s easy to throw in the towel and quit. Instead, you can use your shortcomings and errors as a learning curve.
Be willing to accept your failures, correct them, and keep striving toward your goals. It doesn’t matter how many times you fall if you pick yourself up and start walking again. Your past failures don’t define your future.
2. Boosted Resiliency Comes From Going Through Pain
It doesn’t matter if a tree is a towering oak or a humble sapling in a catastrophic windstorm. The only trees that survive are the ones that have learned to bend. As you weather the vicious storms in your life, you build resiliency that allows you to bend and not break.
According to an article published by Psychology Today, resiliency is your ability to maintain stability personally and socially regardless of your adversity. You realize that nothing lasts forever, even your pain. This essential understanding keeps you bouncing back to life and moving forward.
3. You Gain More Independence by Going Through Pain
When you’re going through a difficult battle, nobody understands. They may be supportive and empathetic, but it’s your journey to travel. In these dark hours of your soul, you gain the courage not just to lock yourself in your room forever.
Going through pain helps you realize there are many things you can’t control in your life. However, you do maintain your attitude and the choices you make. Each victory empowers you to be more confident in your future.
4. You Find Who Your Real Friends Are
Let’s face it; everyone has a few people in their circle who are “fair-weather” friends. When everything is sunny and popping up roses, they are right by your side to enjoy the benefits. However, they’re strangely absent when you’re devastated by loss or find yourself in other dire circumstances.
You quickly learn how to discern your real friends from those who are always there when they need you. Take this opportunity to cut ties with unsupportive people or toxic relationships. If they can’t be with you in the sun and the rain, they don’t deserve to be in your circle.
5. Going Through Pain Helps You Start Listening to Your Body
Your body is adept at sending signals when something is wrong on the inside. Those minor unexplainable aches and pains may be pointing to a more severe health issue.
However, your body can also be warning you about problems with your mental or spiritual health. Once you’ve fought a health battle, you learn to be more in-tune with your system.
6. The Healing Balm of Music
Music is a universal language that speaks to your body, mind, and spirit. The lyrics, rhythm, and harmony can soothe your wounded heart and bring joy to your soul. Listening to your favorite tunes can help you deal with your emotions and revitalize your willpower.
7. You Define Your Goals
Painful trials will quickly bring your focus to what’s most important to you. Sometimes, it’s the disappointments and temporary setbacks that allow you to see the big picture and define your goals. It helps cultivate patience, compassion, and self-care.
8. You’re An Example to Your Children
If you’re like most parents, you try to shield your kids from the pain and disappointment of the adult world. You figure that they’ll grow up soon enough and discover it for themselves. However, their little eyes are watching you as an example of how to deal with stress and challenging family issues.
If you self-medicate with substance abuse, you’re giving your children the wrong message. Using proper coping skills and reaching out for help sets a healthy example. Show them that although life has many hurts, you can still overcome them and fulfill your dreams.
9. Going Through Pain Helps You Get Through Stress Easier
The things that you must deal with in life can paralyze you, and you let your feelings and emotions get the best of you. When you think of all the stress and anxiety you must face, you often don’t have the strength to get out of bed. However, it’s your choice how you respond to your stressors.
When these hurtful times come, you learn to manage your stress more effectively. These times of great hurt have a strange way of teaching you to handle the discomfort, but you know to manage the angst you feel.
10. Relationships Have New Meaning
You have many relationships in your life that you juggle, including relations with your spouse, family, friends, and coworkers. While you can’t make it in life without people, sometimes these folks can make things quite miserable for you.
What happens when you lose someone that you hold so near and dear? Death is inevitable, but your loss is so much more than just their presence. You also lose the dreams and plans that you shared as the future rips away from you.
Losing someone you love causes you to re-evaluate people in your life. You learn how meaningful relationships are to you, and you treat people differently. Death and grief change you, so does going through pain from other types of loss.
11. You Learn the Meaning of Unconditional Love
No one is at their best when they’re under pressure. You come home from a rough day at the office, and you’re cranky, tired and dare anyone to mess with you. How many times have you come home and take out your stress on the ones you love?
However, the people in your inner circle love you on the good and the bad days. They’ve seen you at your best and your worst, and they stay right by your side. Struggles teach you about unconditional love, and your loved ones are your anchor in times of storms.
12. Money Habits Change When You’re Going Through Pain
Sometimes losses are financial. You can lose a job, file bankruptcy, or experience another economic catastrophe. Did you know those money problems can make you physically sick?
According to an article published by Personal Finance Money Tips, they discuss Dr. Roger Henderson and his groundbreaking discovery in 2006 with money sickness syndrome. While this is popular in the United Kingdom, it’s just starting to gain steam in this country. Your financial struggles can take a toll on your health.
However, being in financial turmoil can also teach you some valuable lessons. Once you’ve been broke, you learn a new respect for each dollar you spend, and you’re not so quick to throw money away. Have you ever met someone who went through The Great Depression? They learned to be resourceful with minor things, as they had no choice.
13. Dogs Truly Are Human’s Best Friend
There’s lots of research that shows how valuable pets are to your health. Have you ever come home from a hard day, and your pet was so happy to see you? Pets love unconditionally, and they are indeed your best friend.
Animals can help lower your stress levels and boost your feel-good hormones. So, when you’re going through pain, pets are great to have around you.
14. Breaking Out of Your Normal Routine Is Helpful
Routines are good and bad. While it’s great to put yourself on a schedule, you don’t want to get stuck in a rut of monotony. It’s often beneficial to break free from the daily grind and try something different, and it can be pretty therapeutic.
Sometimes you need a change of scenery and stop wallowing in the same pain and sorrow that doesn’t seem to lift. When you get out and explore a bit, it shows you that the world is so much bigger and better than your problems.
15. Appreciation for the Good Times Grows After Going Through Pain
Going through pain and trauma gives you a better appreciation for the good times. Though we don’t like that we have good days and bad, if it didn’t rain a little bit, you wouldn’t know how stunning it is when the sun shines. You learn to appreciate the good times, and the bad times remind us that there’s better weather ahead.
Final Thoughts on Life Lessons from Going Through Pain
Going through pain is challenging, but there’s a glimmer of hope through it all. You must first acknowledge that the Universe is trying to teach you something, and second, you must embrace the storms. Have you ever heard that saying that you should dance in the rain?
Every day of your life, there’s the chance of heartbreak, sickness, loss, death, and change. Setbacks happen constantly, but as it states in Psalms 30:5, weeping only lasts but for the night, but joy will come in the morning. So hold on, embrace the storm, for it’s bringing wisdom and growth.
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