Our Perception in Life's Valleys

Hardships are inevitable. The challenges that life conjures up seem to always find us, at some point, whether faced head on or dealt with when finally catching up to those who try to run. No one is the exception. In a fallen, broken world, sadness and trials settle in as what we have to deal with. But even though hardship comes, what continues to stand out, while challenges make their way barreling through at times, is our perceptions of them. As I myself have no immunity to those things that make me ask "Why, Lord?" what I yearn to grow in and seek greater footing is in the perception I have of the trials I face. Can you relate?

Summer reading has brought me to multiple stops where I just sit and think. One of these moments opened my heart to the perspectives that we build while in life's valleys. In Laura Hillenbrand's book Unbroken, there is a scene where one's perception of hardship becomes the life or death determiner (and rather, this theme holds true throughout the novel depicting Louie Zamperini's life). Louie and two other men find themselves in a dire situation, floating on a makeshift raft, clinging to life day by day, with their unknown fate literally at bay in the middle of the Pacific Ocean:

"Though all three men face the same hardship, their differing perceptions of it appeared to be shaping their fates. Louie and Phil's hope displaced their fear and inspired them to work toward their survival, and each success renewed their physical and emotional vigor. Mac's resignation seemed to paralyze him, and the less he participated in their efforts to survive, the more he slipped. Though he did the least, as the days passed, it was he who faded the most. Louie and Phil's optimism, and Mac's hopelessness, were becoming self-fulfilling" (148).

Perception of hardship brings either renewal and vigor or a slipping and fading away. For Louie and Phil, it was optimism and creating something worth living for, amidst the most unknown and harshest trial of survival. They relied on each other, and for Phil his faith, to shift the minds' focus and hold on tight to a perception that they would defeat the trial they faced.

"The conversations were healing, pulling them out of their suffering and setting the future before them as a concrete thing. As they imagined themselves back in the world again, they willed a happy ending onto their ordeal and made it their expectation. With these talks, they created something to live for" (146).

If currently faced with a hardship, how are you going to shift your perspective to one with something worth living for? 

If you're a friend of someone dealing with life's grievances, how can you find yourself being that individual to help your friend build a renewed perception?