When It All Turns Dark

Learning to Carry What You Can’t Change

We aren’t guaranteed a life of highs.

Life is like climbing mountains. You reach a peak, but you can’t stay there forever. Eventually, you descend into a valley. And lately, I’ve been in one of those valleys.

I’ve been hit with bad news from multiple directions - problems I can’t immediately solve, situations outside my control. It feels like every small moment of relief is quickly followed by another weight pressing down.

I’m someone who naturally tries to see the good. I don’t dwell on the negative if I can help it. But recently, it’s felt like the negative is all there is.

Marcus Aurelius wrote:

“The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”

It’s easy to read that line when life is calm. It’s harder to believe it when everything feels blocked. But that’s exactly when it matters.

Not long ago, I had genuinely good news at work. A project I stepped into - one I wasn’t fully confident in at first - was evaluated by someone far more experienced than me. They confirmed I was on the right track. It was reassuring. Encouraging.

And then, almost immediately, more bad news followed.

That’s how it goes sometimes.

A heavy cloud settles in. It sits on your chest. It drains your energy. It makes everything feel harder than it should.

As uncomfortable as it is to admit, I know these periods are good for me.

They help me relate to people walking through similar seasons. They build something in me - so that when darker moments come later, I’m better equipped to face them.

Viktor Frankl understood this better than most. After surviving the camps, he wrote:

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”

That line has stayed with me. Because so much of this season isn’t about fixing things quickly - it’s about who I’m becoming while things remain unresolved.

If you’re in a season like this, you probably understand.

The way I’m moving through it is simple, but not easy: one day at a time.

I remind myself that what I’m facing is temporary. That even if I can’t fix everything today, I can do the next right thing. I can show up. I can handle this day.

Dark seasons have a way of convincing you they’ll last forever. They won’t.

They also have a way of making you stronger - whether you want them to or not.

Albert Camus once wrote:

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”

Strength doesn’t always happen suddenly. Sometimes it’s just endurance. Sometimes it’s refusing to quit on a day when quitting would be easy.

I think of the gym. The burn hurts. The struggle is uncomfortable. But that discomfort is the signal that growth is happening. Life works the same way.

If we never struggled, we’d never become resilient. If everything came easily, we’d never develop strength.

I’ve faced loss. Financial stress. Failed relationships. Deep uncertainty. And I know I’m not alone in that. Every person alive will walk through seasons like this in one form or another.

If you’re going to live through it - and you are - you might as well grow through it.

The failed business teaches you how to build the successful one.
The strain in the gym makes you stronger.
The wrong relationships teach you what’s worth protecting.

So if you’re in one of those dark seasons right now, I just want to say this:

Take it one day at a time.
Keep going.
You are not alone.

And even if it doesn’t feel like it yet - this will make you stronger.