Discovery Through Detriment

I obviously can't speak for any one other than myself, or speak as if I've experienced anything exactly how another person has experienced it, because I can't and I haven't. But, I'm confident in saying that I am not the only one who has been in situations, very difficult situations, that seemed impossible to break free from. There was no envisioning how there could be secondary gain(s) in the torment. Recognizing positive consequences when everything seems negative, in the moment, may come periodically during macabre times, but most appropriately after we do eventually move on from whatever is holding our faces in the earth. This, I believe, cannot come without a certain amount of strength--strength not in a sense of unwavering discipline, but more so in recognizing that it is okay to be weak. It is okay to wallow in pity for ourselves, as long as there results some self-insight through reflection on how weakness is, in my opinion, a necessary characteristic in the development of strength. Through this insight and reflection upon our experiences, we can come to view decisions which lead to seemingly adverse consequences, not as mistakes, but as stepping stones to our current positions in life. I believe that considering a decision a mistake is only appropriate if one doesn't learn something from the consequences. I have learned many lessons through decisions I've made and struggling through the residue left from those decisions. I would not change anything about my experiences, no matter how vulnerable they left me, no matter how helpless I felt, because I believe I am better equipped to deal with the increasingly difficult decisions I have to make as I age, as a result from the resilience I surprised myself with over the years. But, at times alone in the darkness of my own mind, it seems impossible to find hope or to see anything at all. Only later, as I continue to breath and emerge from the darkness, can I see there was always hope. If nothing else, there is always the hope to find hope, once again. That is something I have adopted.