When life gives you lemons make lemonade? That’s what they say, right? Lemonade is good and all, but are you telling me that when life gets tough I might end up bitter and thirsty? No thanks! I say when life gives you lemons there is a lesson to be learned. At least that’s what happened to me… It was about a year ago that I started noticing a particular pattern in my life. It seemed like the hardest, scariest, and most challenging things I faced – whether in business, love, or family – offered me the most important lessons in life.

Now, I certainly didn’t realize this in those moments. I wish I had… It was the exact opposite in fact. There were so many times that I cried and screamed and wanted to run away and leave it all behind. I got to the point where the simplest of problems and tasks overwhelmed and almost broke me. It was in hindsight, after the dust settled, that I realized that those “life lemons” produced “life lessons”.

The thing about problems is that they are persistent. They are unavoidable and sometimes undetected. The good news is – it’s up to us how we respond. We can allow them to break us. We can pretend they don’t exist. We can allow them to produce greatness in us. For the latter we have to take stock in and embrace the lessons. As hard as it may be, it’s the lesson that we obtain from a particular problem that bulids our character and helps us to overcome the next one.

After I realized that lemons produce lessons I started thinking back to experiences I had in the past. Would you believe that the same principle rang true? At that point I decided to stop crying over and running from my problems. I stopped “making lemonade” with them too. Instead, I now work to face the problems (sometimes with reservation). Does that mean they went away or became easier? Of course not! But when I feel like I’ve had a bad day, I say to myself – at least there is a lesson in there somewhere. I don’t always see it right away. But I know it’s there. I can move on knowing that. It gives me peace.

When I see lemons I laugh to myself now. It’s almost like I judge them. As a matter of fact, it’s been a little while since I’ve even had lemonade. Maybe today is the day.

I hope you can see the lessons from your lemons. Stay tuned as I share mine…

Disclaimer: No lemons were harmed or offended in the making of this post.