I am on a journey to find my purpose of life. I believe finding purpose is the foundation that all great wealth is built on. The unconventional way to wealth is by understanding life’s challenges, and attacking them head on.

To find purpose, you must overcome the challenges you face.  Overcoming challenges really is the stairway to your dreams.

I dream of living the life I want to live, rather than a life I am forced to live. I am always asking the challenges I face on a daily basis, these questions: Why are you here? Why am I on this earth to overcome you?  What are you here to teach me?

I have learned that there is a power inside each challenge.  This power is like a treasure of knowledge that will help me find my wealth in life.  If I can unlock and understand the knowledge that challenges teach me, I can find the path to the life I want to live, rather than the life I am forced to live.

I am staring out of my office window thinking about this subject now.  My home-office windows face my backyard, where we back against a Minnesota nature preserve.  The sun is shining.  A light breeze is blowing. The prairie grass has changed from a bright summer green, into a golden September color.

It’s a beautiful sight. Yet there are times when I am unsure if I am on the right path.  I want to live my dreams. But they seem so far away and impossible sometimes.

View from our home office

As I look out into the nature park, it’s like I can see the daydream of my perfect life.  The dream life I long for reflects back at me.  I realize two truths as I face my dreams:

1. My dreams will forever only be fantasies unless I work, train, and sacrifice for them.
2. I will have to use all the strength I have to will them into existence if I want them to be real. 

After realizing these two truths about living dreams, I face the lies and excuses that come so easily to keep us from them:

1. You don’t have enough money to reach your dream life.  It’ll never happen.
2.  You might get hurt if you take that risk and fail.  You should never do it.
3. Be predictable and safe.  You’re not meant to be a hero.

These thoughts terrify me.  When I feel afraid, I force myself out of the office to go for a long walk.

I walk down the trail out of my backyard, and I look up at the trees bowing over my head.

I talk to my personal challenges. “Why are you here?  Why is this journey to find my dreams so difficult?”

The challenges in my way respond: “I don’t want to make this hard for you.  I am here to make you stronger. You won’t be able to reach your dreams unless you are stronger.  You cannot get stronger without challenges like me to overcome.”

Birds fly between tree branches.  The forest changes shape as the breeze blows the branches around.  It looks like everything is dancing.  

“Sometimes I don’t know if I have what it takes,”  I say.

The challenges in my life laugh at me.  “If you want the journey of your life to be easy, then it won’t be special. Easy, and special, are two paths that don’t go together.”

I continue to walk, and the challenges speak in my mind.  “Overcoming me is the only way to make you realize how special your life is.   If you give up on your dream life, you’ll never know the true life you were supposed to live.”

I walk faster, responding to the challenges in my life. “But it hurts sometimes.  I get exhausted.  How do I find the strength to keep overcoming you?”

A walk into the woods behind our home.. 

“If you were meant to live this life you dream about, you will find ways to overcome the challenges in your way.”

I don’t know how to respond. I ask another question, trying to understand my deepest purpose in life . “What is life am I supposed to live?  Should I take the easy path, or should I fight for my dream life?  My dream life seems a lot harder to achieve than the easy path.”

The challenges in my mind respond: “You will know the path you are supposed to live, when even though it pushes you to the brink of giving up, you can’t help but to keep moving forward down the path. You will HAVE TO overcome the challenges that are in your way.  You will HAVE TO keep going.  When the path to your dreams becomes more important than anything else in the world, you will know you have found the right one.”

I stop on the trail.  My vision clears. I had been talking to my challenges. Now they are gone.

I am on the path I am meant to be on. (Keep reading more on this here.) 

After facing the challenges in my life, I have learned these two things are true:

1. Challenges are here to make us stronger.
2. They test the strength and realness of our desire.
3. Challenges offer us confirmation:  They let us know if we’re on the right or wrong path.

STUFF WE LOVE:

Personal Capital is a net-worth calculating tool that turns your finances into a puzzle that’s fun to solve.  It’s free and makes monitoring your money easy.

Bluehost is how we started this blog.  Launch yourself onto the internet.  Your friends are out there.  It’s an easy to start your blog today.