“Disappointment, defeat, and despair are the tools God uses to show us the way.”
-Paulo Coelho
I had a path in life planned out, and then had detours that led me on a much more interesting (albeit arduous) journey. I became better than I would have because I did not get what I thought I wanted and ended up better for it.
You don’t know how strong you are until your strength has been repeatedly tested.
You don’t know how resilient you can be until you are forced to overcome darkness and setbacks again and again, each time with new knowledge of the world and yourself that instills faith for the future.
You can’t stand up until you’ve been knocked down. And when you get back up even when you can’t you become a champion in and of life.
The first major work on Stoicism in forever was Ryan Holiday’s book “The Obstacle is the Way”, and it is true: the rough path makes you stronger than the easy street.
Be defeated. Taste despair and disappointment, because weathering these forces makes us strong enough to get to where God wants us to be, even if it is not where we set out for.