7 Benefits of Turmoil

5) Reinforces Purpose/Commitment

Our culture is obsessed with ease and speed. We quit whenever something doesn’t give us the desired results. We abandon projects and people and ideas when turmoil shows up.

This is a good thing. Because the turmoil tests our commitment. It tests the intimacy with which we are willing to engage. Whether it is project or person, turmoil says to us ‘How much do your really care?’

In this way, turmoil helps us determine what we value. Understanding what we are willing to die for helps us understand what we are meant to live for.

6) Appreciation For The Good

The sixth way turmoil adds value to our lives is that it reminds us of the value of what is good. It not only awakens us from our current complacency, but it makes future complacency less likely.

Good is better understood because we know what pain feels like. It awakens our thankfulness. It triggers our appreciation. We see good more clearly because we know what it is to be without it.

7) It Can Be Overcome

There are plenty of people in the world who decide to wallow in their pain. They decide they are made for it so much that they sit in it. They build a house and plant roots in despair.

Turmoil is valuable only because it can be overcome. It is a current in the sea but it is not the entire ocean.

We stand firm in our pain, ironically, in an attempt to avoid it. Sound ridiculous? It is. But it’s what we do. We decide we’d rather make a home in familiar pain than risk discovering some new turmoil.

The lessons of pain quickly wither in the absence of hope. The possible victory of good is an essential ingredient in understanding the value of turmoil. If we lose hope, we lose true perspective and pain has overcome us. If we cling to hope, the process of pain will paradoxically feed the pursuit of good in our lives.