Overcoming Pain by Noma Majola

We live in a society where struggling has been categorised as something to be ashamed of. People hide their challenges while caging themselves because of the things that they go through. It is saddening because the majority of people are afraid of being labelled in a certain way. Struggling has been classified as an illness that people want to be immune to, and so they live beyond their means to avoid being classified in a certain way. They fear that it will demean who they are.

We live in a society where people judge you based on what you have or based on your living circumstances. We live in a society, where a “good” person is the one that has a lavish lifestyle that attracts the eye, and a poor person is not to be trusted. This has resulted in people being in a lot of debt and in defense mode to protect themselves from this disease called struggle.

Yet, life is a chain of struggles and true growth comes from what we endure. Why then are our struggles labelled as a disease when they enable us to grow? When challenges introduce us to parts of ourselves that we did not even know existed? Why then are we running away from challenges that build our character while forming us into something greater?

All successful people have encountered challenges in their lives, yet people are running away from what is needed for them to step enter into a new level of potential. It is sad that the majority of humankind has opted to define themselves according to the things that they go through. They have found it difficult to see beyond their current circumstances . They have missed the fundamental point that, the things we go through are a part of who we are, but they do not represent who we are going to become.

It is not who you are, it is something that you are going through and distinguishing this will help you overcome.

One of the biggest challenges that humankind faces is labeling themselves in accordance with their challenges, when God has called them to be bigger than the things they go through. Being ashamed of the challenges we go through is one of the leading causes of suicide because people argue that, the only way to detach themselves from the struggles is suicide. They have placed shame on what they go through.

We all go through things we don't deserve, yet the essence is in overcoming our issues and becoming stronger through them.

The people that leave our lives because of the challenges that we go through, were not meant to be in our lives in the first place. We should never allow people's judgment navigate how we deal with the things we encounter. Everyone is going through something, you might not see it but they are. This is an indication that life is filled with challenges and it is imperative that we never disqualify ourselves because of what we go through, but change our mindsets around it in order to conquer.

By Nomalungelo Majola