What doesn't kill us makes us stronger.
Suffering is an inevitable part of being human. We avoid it at all costs, but we can never escape reality: Life is suffering.
Though beauty comes from all the pain and struggles we experience, we can grow out of the obstacles and miseries of life.
It's the reason why with great power comes great responsibility, why Van Gogh or Edgar Allan Poe became such great artists, and why Jesus had to carry the cross.
There is no need for us to seek out suffering; it will find us without fail. We just need to lean into it by expecting it, embracing it, and having hope in the midst of it.
Therefore, it all goes down to having a good perspective.
How can losing a friend be good for us? How can watching your child die to be a good thing? Suffering can haunt us into the depths of our soul, but it's our job to deal with it and move on with our lives.
Your response to challenges will determine whether you have a life worth living at the end of the day.
L.A. Brand's book, Families Are Forever, follows a story of survival from a family's sufferings during World War I. After being orphaned, two children now face life on their own. With only their will to live, they had to live in the workhouse to silk mills. They had to serve in a big house, gypsy camps, fairgrounds, and the army to survive. It's about how a family becomes broken because of cultural and class differences at the time.
Families Are Forever is a beautiful depiction of how we can survive life's challenges to become the better and stronger version of ourselves. Furthermore, it shows how different people respond to hardships and difficulties.
We can either succumb to our problems or use them to our own advantage.
As the author puts it, "I just keep going because there is always a way around most problems. If there is an obstacle blocking you, can find a way around."