The Wellbeing 5 Project

Laura: I really like the concept of Nietzsche’s “the love of your fate.” Joseph Campbell explains it beautifully, “At a certain moment in Nietzsche’s life, the idea came to him of what he called “the love of your fate.” Whatever your fate is, whatever the heck happens, you say, “This is what I need.” It may look like a wreck, but go at it as though it were an opportunity, a challenge. If you bring love to that moment—not discouragement— you will find the strength is there. Any disaster that you can survive is an improvement in your character, your stature, and your life. What a privilege! This is when the spontaneity of your own nature will have a chance to flow. Then, when looking back at your life, you will see that the moments which seemed to be great failures followed by wreckage were the incidents that shaped the life you have now. You’ll see that this is really true. Nothing can happen to you that is not positive. Even though it looks and feels at the moment like a negative crisis, it is not.”

I realize this idea may not resonate with everyone and for every situation. However, this quote has helped me overcome some very dark times in my life. When I was down and felt defeated, I would think of this quote. It allowed me to step back from what was happening and what was making me feel down and look at it as just an experience, neither bad nor good. When I considered what lessons I could learn from a situation it helped me become stronger. This can sometimes be hard to do, and you have to consciously make the choice to try to think differently about a situation that is defeating you. I have lived through some very bad things in life, things that could have defeated me, but I choose to rise above and become a stronger person because of my experiences.