Strive to Find the Meaning of Any Struggle
I recently watched a YouTube video about a man who repairs broken books – books that have suffered damage. He was described as someone practicing a dying craft. It was obviously a very challenging job requiring absolute craftsmanship.
The theme of the news video was that there was no one to succeed this man who clearly loved his craft and had dedicated his life to it. He was clearly committed to overcoming whatever struggle or challenge a broken or damaged book presented to him. He had also learned to accept that there was no one who was going to succeed him in this ancient craft.
The video also referred to a written quotation that the person always kept near him in his office workshop. The quotation was as follows:
“Whatever struggle you have met, find its meaning and it will cease to be a struggle.”
Isn’t that so true of life. Our lives are, inevitably, made up of a series of struggles. For some people, it can be overwhelming. For others it is merely challenging. While for some others the secret is to try to find out the meaning of the struggle: what are its origins, why has it occurred, what is the best way to overcome it, tackle it, or just accept it. Once we have made sense of the particular struggle, it really is no longer a struggle.
It is important to see life’s struggles as merely challenges that can have meaning and can often be understood, overcome, or, even, just accepted. In that way, they are no longer the struggle that we previously imagined.
