God mentions in the Quran, “With Hardship comes Ease” 94:6. If you have read “Reclaim your Heart” by Yasmin Mogahed, she emphasizes the ‘WITH’ instead of the common perception of after hardship comes ease. Why is that so important? Why is it so important to understand that with hardship comes ease?

I go on Social Media more than I should. I never realized it, but social media has been part of the reason why I feel more hardship. It’s not just seeing everyone’s highlight reels while seeking your own but it’s not seeing their struggles that dehumanizes people to you. And how do we react? We step away more. We are disappointed more with our lives and often times the only solace we feel is when someone validates our struggles by either hearing us out or presenting struggles of their own for us to listen to. “It’s not just me” has become the subconscious ecstasy.

I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and that struggle and happiness are waves of life. Life has always been this way. And the trap that we often feel based on the generational exposure to huge amounts of information is that we should live our lives avoiding hardship rather than pursuing ourselves. Life feels like we should focus on our problems and work through them so that we can then create highlight reels of our own.

The problem with that is that our happiness isn’t based on working through problems; our happiness is curated simply by living our lives. It sounds simple but let me tell you, when you’ve fallen into the trap of feeling the need to solve all your problems, the hardest thing to be is yourself.

Problems and hardship will exist even if your sole intention in life is to spend every day solving them. Consider life as a vast and intricate tapestry. If you fixate solely on the knots and tangles, obsessing over the flaws and imperfections, you might miss the beauty of the overall design. Happiness often lies not in unraveling every issue but in stepping back to appreciate the entire artwork. In the same way, don’t let the hardships and problems consume you; instead, focus on weaving the threads of your passions, dreams, and personal growth. By pursuing yourself and embracing the broader picture, you can find joy in the masterpiece that is your life.

It’s important to understand that with hardship comes ease because the best thing to ever happen to us is hardship. Cold wet rainy days suck in the moment but give life to so much around us in time. All you have to do is focus less on your problems and focus more on you. Forgot about the roadblocks and focus more on your destinations. Don’t live to avoid, live to be. And if you feel trapped right now in problem solving and you feel stuck, know that you’re never too stuck for any moment. Find just one thing that gives you juice and do it. Forget about every single problem you have and make sure that you feed yourself.

Find your “with”. You’ll get there. I promise.

The title of this post is from an episode of Ted Lasso where one of the main character’s breaks down feeling like he had ‘lost his wings’. No spoilers here except that – in time, he found them!