All of our lives are too unique to copy the path from someone else.

“There is information that can be shared with words, but it is impossible to share the experience of clarity, when you are standing on top of that peak by yourself."

Geoffrey Oryema’

Spending 40 years in exile inspired the Ugandan singer-songwriter to produce an extraordinarily heartfelt protest album. Translated, it is clear from the lyrics that  Makambo is a sigh, not a shout, and a resignation that peace will remain elusive: One hears the weariness of a perplexed man who has been in exile and cut off from his motherland for 13 years.

How to Grow from Your Pain

It turns out that trauma in our lives, in whatever form it takes, isn’t actually the thing that makes us “stronger” in this case. All those inspirational quotes with cheesy sunsets about enduring adversity and “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” they all kind of mislead you into thinking that just enduring some form of hardship is enough to steel yourself against future hardship.