I've grappled with a problem in the past.

The problem is - sometimes life just sucks. For no reason at all, with no warning, with no justification, life just kicks you in the teeth. And it sucks. It hurts. And there is no why. There is no reason for it. There's only pain and misery, and the pain and misery of being in pain and misery. And it's all too easy to get wrapped up in your self pity, thinking of how much pain you're enduring and how unfair life is to you, and how much easier things would be if you didn't keep getting kicked in the teeth for no reason at all.

But eventually, I got tired of thinking like that. I still can't say that there really is a "why". I don't believe that some cosmic being is pulling the strings of the universe for some grander purpose. I don't think that there is some intrinsic lesson contained within each kick in the teeth. But that's what I realized - life's lessons aren't sitting out there on the ground, waiting around to be picked up like a penny on the sidewalk. They have to be created. The lessons of your life aren't something that is given to you, they are something you produce.

So every terrible experience in your life doesn't have some hidden meaning or purpose. It has an infinite number of meanings and purposes you could mine for a lifetime. You just have to put the work in.