E079: Turning Pain Into Purpose

So many of us confront immense trauma and tragedy in life, leaving us to cope with different levels of pain. Quite often this pain can outweigh our coping skills, setting us up for further disaster. We’ve learned through our own lives, the importance of getting the upper hand on this pain before it leads us down a path that is even more difficult to return from. We’ve also had the opportunity to meet and interview people from all over this country, with their own incredible stories of turning pain into purpose. In this episode we pull snippets of interviews with past guests who shared their own personal stories of turning pain into a new purpose. Dave Roever is a Vietnam veteran who was so severely wounded that he was declared KIA. He's endured decades of surgeries and rehabilitation that have the potential to destroy his positive outlook on life. Instead, Dave turned his pain into purpose by using his experiences to help others. Chad Littlefield died alongside his friend Chris Kyle. His family still struggles beneath the weight of their grief, but they choose to use their own pain to honor Chad's legacy. Today they are a large part of Operation Valor, a non-profit serving to support other veteran based organizations. Bonnie Carroll fell hard into her own grief when her husband died in a military aviation accident. Unable to locate supportive services, Bonnie created TAPS, which is now this nation's largest and most influential tragedy support system for military families. Dr. Sean Stephenson was given a death sentence just moments after he was born. But this remarkable individual defied his doctors' prognosis first by living, and then by going on to lead an extraordinary life. Today Dr. Stephenson is a wildly sought after speaker and highly successful therapist.