‘He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.’ Friedrich Nietzche
One of my primary goals as a therapist and teacher is to help people make meaning out of their life experiences. When we can find a sense of purpose in a difficult experience that we must endure it has a magical effect. I often describe meaning as a far off horizon; one that we must stretch ourselves to see. Finding meaning is not always easy. Often times we have to trudge through a jungle of sadness, despair, anger, and self-pity before we can even get a glimpse at the horizon where meaning waits. Beginning that trek toward meaning can take days, months, or years. At some point the realization comes, that meaning is the only path forward if we want to have peace. And to reach that peace we must take a step.