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They say “don’t waste a crisis”. People say they grow more during seasons of loss, pain, and crisis than they do at any other time. I’m currently learning the value of hardship and struggle all over again.

For some time, researchers have looked at what enables some people to endure suffering. But recently, the focus has shifted from looking only at how some people make it through to how people are able to go through adversity and actually come through it stronger than before.

One conclusion being reached is that adversity can lead to growth. In fact, it is now being suggested that the highest levels of growth cannot be achieved without adversity. It may be that somehow adversity leads to growth in a way that nothing else does.

If you could erase every failure, disappointment, and period of suffering, would that be a good idea? Would that allow you to become all that you could be? Is it possible that we actually need adversity and setbacks—maybe even crisis and trauma—to reach the fullest level of development and growth?

Hurricane Andrew had taught me a bit about this. In the storm’s immediate aftermath I was told (by disaster recovery workers) that although it might be hard to believe, our community (Homestead, FL) and its people could experience many dividends from this disaster. They were right! There are some permanent benefits from that storm 20 years ago.

So now I am personally navigating a challenging piece of life’s road that includes Parkinson’s Disease. Upon receiving the diagnosis some eight years ago, I lost the self-confidence and optimism that had characterized my life to that point. I became depressed as the sense of clarity and direction I had been enjoying slipped away. For several years I hung in the proverbial “dark night of the soul” vacillating between believing my productive life was over and the inclination to fight for it. Then, with the priceless support of my wife and several friends I have been able to declare that I’m not done. This has become an opportunity for me to focus my life’s “mission” and to shape my day-to-day activities around that purpose. I am making my life “count” in ways far beyond what I had previously experienced.

Especially when a dramatic turn throws us off balance, we benefit immensely from welcoming the supportive presence and input of others. In normal times, community blesses. In crisis, community saves. Perhaps there’s something about our mutual vulnerability that heals our hearts in a way that our strength never can.

When we experience a life-altering diagnosis, difficult job change or an ego-shattering divorce, we have a window ofopportunity to use it for personal growth and development. Actually, the wonderful and terrible thing about adversity is that we do not have to plan or program it. It just comes…and with Parkinson’s, it keeps coming.

Join us throughout 2012 as we publish the autobiographical stories of individuals who have had personal experience with adversity and have chosen not to waste it!
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