This life we have comes with heartache, failures and in general everyday struggles that can bring us down.  It occurs to me that struggles are the basic building blocks that in time bring us happiness and understanding.  Without a struggle, we could not grow or improve our lives.  My muscles need some type of resistance to become stronger.  If I stop reading and learning new things, my brain will atrophy.  At work, if I coast and stop looking for innovative ways of improving the system, I become lazy and the process I support will become outdated.   This life as we know it, needs resistance and struggles to help push us into the next level of understanding.  We may not achieve what we initially set out to accomplish, but in the end, if we don’t give up, we will experience an understanding that we here to for could never have gained and I would suggest a new found joy.

I am reading the book, “Undaunted Courage” about the life of Meriwether Lewis, of Lewis and Clark fame.  The book is mostly about the Lewis and Clark expedition, but goes into the early life Lewis.  As I read about his life and the expedition that he was a part of, I find it amazing that anyone would take on such a task and live to tell about it.  Then to have is life end at such a young age (35) by the hand of thieves or his own hand (history is not clear on this) is a tragedy, which only Lewis could understand.   But, what I find most interesting about this man is the courage he summoned to make the 8,000 mile round trip in less than two and one half years on water, foot and horseback.  The struggles he and his group faced on the journey are incredible and gives me a whole new appreciation for those that journey into the unknown.

But, isn’t that what each of us face each day of our lives.  The unknown and the excitement of new experiences and learning new things about us and others.  Lewis would write in his journal of all the beautiful things he would see, as they were struggling with sickness, weather and/or other unforeseen difficulties facing them.  He would remember what Jefferson had asked him to do, “Explore and bring back information”.   Our lives are exactly that, an exploration into all the new and exciting things that will help us grow.

As I think about the job change I just recently did, I sometimes wonder why I would leave a good comfortable job, to go back to a company that had once not valued my service and start the proving of myself all over again.  This is what I came up with, it is the excitement of something new and the unknown that comes with that change.  As I look at this change, I see new growth in areas I have thought I new enough.  I see my understanding increase with each new day, though it is hard and sometimes I wish for the comfort of the old job. These are nothing near to the struggles that Lewis and his group faced, but I think I understand the excitement he felt at experiencing the each new day.

As we each face new struggles and trials, we should be grateful that we have them, that we have the opportunity to view life through a different set of lenses. We each have our own and personal trials, but if viewed from the growth perspective, each trial will bring us new enlightenment, just like each mile through the new west brought new discoveries for Lewis.   I honestly feel that my life would be far less than it is today, without all that I have faced in my life and continue to experience today.  As I look back and ponder the lessons learned, I am amazed that I made it and I now understand the growth that I have gone through.  Today, I have a comfortable life and feel blessed in all that I have received in the form of family and relationships. Today, I welcome new trials and experiences with the understanding that I don’t want to stop learning.  Learning, it is what propels me forward.