What is the Meaning of Life?
If you’ve ever felt like life has a way of stacking problems on top of each other, you’re not alone. Some moments knock the wind out of you, and when people try to comfort you with sayings like, “Everything happens for a reason,” it can feel dismissive. It’s as if they’re asking you to skip over the very real pain you’re experiencing and jump straight to the lesson. That’s not how healing works.
Here’s a hard, but important reality: Life doesn’t always make sense, and not all pain has a purpose. This frustrated me for years. While not all pain leads to something positive, I want to offer a perspective that can help you avoid falling into deeper levels of despair. I call this technique The Web.
Finding Purpose in Pain
One of the most helpful techniques I’ve discovered is something I call The Web. It’s not about pretending everything will turn out fine or forcing positivity—it’s a process of reflection that has helped me make sense of my experiences.
Here’s an example: Years ago, I was laid off from a job I loved. At the time, it felt like the universe was pulling the rug out from under me. That loss pushed me back to school, which led me to study psychology at a small college where, as fate would have it, I met my wife. That moment of heartbreak years ago became the first domino in a chain that gave me one of the most important relationships of my life.
Of course, not all painful experiences lead to something beautiful. Some things will always hurt, and that’s okay. But what I’ve found is that when we look back at the events in our lives, we can often trace how moments of struggle were intertwined with moments of growth, connection, or change. Recognizing this doesn’t erase the pain, but it can remind us that our lives are more than the hardest parts of them.
How to Apply ‘The Web’ to Your Life
If you want to try The Web, start with something—or someone—you value deeply in your life right now. Trace back the events that led you there, layer by layer. Somewhere along that path, you might find a moment that felt unbearable at the time but was necessary to get you where you are today.
This exercise isn’t about diminishing your pain; it’s about seeing your story with fresh eyes, finding threads of purpose where you thought there were none.
I’ve shared the full process in the video below, walking through how I’ve used The Web in my own life. This video does not aim to minimize the intensity of anyone’s pain or trauma but offers a different perspective on dealing with life’s challenges.
When life feels overwhelming, it’s easy to believe that pain is all there is. But I hope this gives you a different lens, a reminder that while pain is real, it doesn’t have to define your story.
-Scott
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