Below is a brief list of 20 remarkable humans who utilized and transformed their pain into something greater—something that made them into the remarkable humans we remember them to be (in no particular order):
- Martin Luther King Jr. — Faced life-threatening racial violence and oppression.
- Maya Angelou — Sexually abused and raped.
- Pablo Picasso — Dyslexic and grew up poor.
- Victor Frankl — Imprisoned at several Nazi concentration camps where his family was killed.
- Franklin Roosevelt — Became partially paralyzed at 39 years old.
- Oprah Winfrey — Gave birth at 14 years old and lost her child.
- Frida Kahlo — Bedridden for months from a near-fatal automobile accident.
- Jim Carrey — Experienced homelessness for an extended period of time.
- Benjamin Franklin — Had to drop out of school at 10 years old.
- Charlize Theron — Witnessed her mother kill her father.
- Tony Robbins — Grew up in an abusive home with a poor stepfather.
- Nelson Mandela — Wrongly imprisoned for 27 years.
- Sylvester Stallone — Due to complications at birth, had a partially paralyzed face.
- Tom Cruise — Born into poverty with an abusive father.
- Frederick Douglass — Born into slavery, violence, and was separated from his parents.
- Keanu Reeves — Dad left when he was 3. Lost a child. Lost a woman he loved.
- Charlie Chaplan — Grew up poor. Dad left when he was 2. Mom was later sent to a psychiatric facility for mental health problems.
- Ludwig von Beethoven — Deaf.
- Stephen Hawking — Diagnosed at age 21 with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
- Bethany Hamilton — Attacked by a shark at 13 years old (kept surfing and winning championships anyway).
Takeaway: What you might perceive as your biggest obstacle(s), heaviest burden(s), or greatest disadvantage(s) might very well be your most powerful source(s) of drive after all.