why-meSome people exercise, eat nutritious food, get enough rest, take vitamins and have a healthy lifestyle. Maybe they even meditate and do affirmations. And then, they get a hard diagnosis.

So when they ask “why is this happening to me?” it seems like a logical question. Because they are doing everything right.

Why me?

There really is only one way to respond to ourselves, if we’re the ones asking: (I don’t recommend you say this to anyone, though)

Why NOT me?

It’s not like there’s a cause-effect all the time. Sometimes, events are random. There are factors beyond our control. Environmental, for example. Genetics.

We are not being targeted–we may be doing the very best we can, but we simply do not control every variable.

It’s not like some great hand in the sky had it out for us. We’re not being singled out. It’s just luck of the draw.

I know. No consolation, right?

No. None at all.

It is, however, a chance to rise to the occasion. Oh, I know. If you’d wanted a grand adventure you’d have gone on safari. (I said that once to a therapist who tried to get me to view the breakup of my marriage as an adventure. Right. Not.)

But the truth is that everything that happens to us IS an opportunity to lift ourselves up and lift others up as well.

That can be hard to see. But it doesn’t make it any less true.

Do you know people who say that their condition, their disease is a gift?  I do.  That’s something I’m not sure I’d say. Nonetheless, their saying it, believing it, allows them to lift themselves out of a possible morass of depression, where many others wallow–and in the process, they are raising the bar for the rest of us. Inspiring us.

I know they inspire me.

I would love your thoughts on this.

Do you know about my retreat “Discover Your Passion & Purpose: knock down barriers, uncover your hidden dreams & design the next stage of your life?” 

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