The Profound Gift Beyond Adversity: Embracing Life After the Storm

Craig Stanland
3 min readSep 22, 2023

There’s a gift on the other side of adversity.

It’s the moment you realize you’re no longer in the belly of the beast; you’ve made it out.

And you’re OK.

This is one of the most profound moments of our human experience.

But there is a moment that exceeds even that.

It’s the moment you realize your experience can be of service to others.

When you can step outside of the experience, speak openly and honestly about what happened for you, and understand that by doing so, you can be of service to others.

This is nothing short of magical.

I write about very dark experiences in my life: prison, fear, loss, divorce, and suicide ideation.

I do this to shed light on topics people may be afraid to discuss in their own lives. So that they know they’re not alone.

So they can reinvent their lives into something extraordinary.

It’s my calling and my purpose.

I can go to the depths of my soul and, as someone wrote in a review of my book, “TEAR HIMSELF OPEN” because I’m at peace.

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Craig Stanland

I write about my journey from corporate success to federal prison and finding joy, mission, meaning, and fulfillment beyond professional and financial success.