How do you find meaning in troubled times?
You find meaning in troubled times by returning to the few things that cannot be taken from you: your interior life, your relationships, your sense of purpose, and the small daily acts that keep hope alive. Meaning is not discovered in spite of difficulty but through it, because hardship clarifies what truly matters.
What meaning looks like when life is unsettled
Troubled times strip away illusions of control. What remains are the deeper anchors:
- Your values — the non‑negotiables that shape how you show up even when circumstances are chaotic.
- Your relationships — the people you choose to love and the people who choose to love you back.
- Your vocation — not your job title, but the work your soul feels responsible for.
- Your faith or worldview — the story you believe you are part of.
Meaning grows where these four threads intersect. When the world feels unstable, returning to them is not escapism; it is orientation.
How meaning is actually formed in hardship
Meaning is not a feeling. It is a pattern you build through repeated choices:
- Attention — noticing what is still good, still beautiful, still worth protecting.
- Responsibility — doing the next right thing, even when it feels small.
- Connection — refusing to isolate, even when fear or fatigue tempts you inward.
- Service — offering something of yourself to someone else, which paradoxically strengthens you.
- Interpretation — choosing a story about your life that includes purpose, not just pain.
These are not grand gestures. They are daily practices that slowly re‑knit your sense of self.
Where people often rediscover meaning
Different people find meaning in different places, but several patterns show up again and again:
- Rituals — lighting a candle, walking a familiar path, praying, journaling, cooking for someone. Rituals create continuity when everything else feels fragmented.
- Creative work — writing, painting, gardening, crafting. Creativity turns chaos into form.
- Acts of solidarity — helping a neighbor, volunteering, checking on a friend. Meaning expands when it is shared.
- Returning to the body — breathing, stretching, resting, grounding. The body anchors the mind.
- Telling the truth — naming what hurts and what matters. Honesty is the beginning of clarity.
Meaning is rarely found in the abstract. It is found in the concrete, the embodied, the relational.
A deeper truth: meaning is not the opposite of suffering
Meaning does not erase difficulty. It gives difficulty a direction.
Hardship becomes meaningful when:
- it reveals your strength,
- deepens your compassion,
- clarifies your priorities,
- or draws you into a larger story than your own comfort.
This is why people who have endured the most often speak with the most wisdom. They learned that meaning is not something life hands you; it is something you cultivate.
In troubled times, meaning is not found by escaping the storm but by discovering who we become within it. We find meaning when we choose connection over despair, purpose over paralysis, and hope over cynicism. The world may be unsettled, but our capacity to create meaning—through love, service, creativity, and faith—remains intact. Troubled times do not diminish meaning; they reveal it.
post inspired by Being Catholic in Troubled Times (Dennis Ortman)
book description:
These are times that try our souls. This book is addressed to all, not just Catholics, who search for deeper meaning in tough times. Our age is marked by division and alienation. We long for some message that will bring peace to our world and our hearts.
This book suggests that the Catholic faith can provide strength in these troubled times. The word "catholic" means "all-embracing, universal." Nothing is excluded in the catholic mind. The truth that sets us free can be found everywhere, especially in unexpected places. It is often hidden in plain sight. In our darkest moments, we find new light and life. When we are most despairing, a ray of hope shines through.
Dr. Dennis Ortman is the author of Anger Anonymous, Anxiety Anonymous, Depression Anonymous, Being Catholic in Troubled Times, and Life, Liberty, and COVID-19.
For more posts by and about Dennis and his award-winning books, click HERE.
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