When It’s Hard to Keep Going: 3 Ways to Find Motivation Through Grief, Loss, & Life’s Hard Times

But today, well, today is different.

Because three times I've created today's episode.

Each time, it just didn't feel right.

It didn't feel right having gone through what I have this month here on the podcast.

See, today it's October 28th, 2025.

And to you, that's probably just another date, another day on the calendar.

But for me, October 28th, it's everything.

It's a day that represents a life that was and a life that would become.

It was a single moment in time that separates everything for me from the before and the after.

Because 22 years ago, on October 28th, 2003, my life was forever changed.

Thankfully, my life was saved with the removal of a brain tumor.

But it came at the cost no one ever was expecting.

And that, of course, was my eyesight.

I've shared that story many times here on the podcast.

Matter of fact, if you tuned in last week, you heard my mom share the story of what happened here on this podcast.

So today, I'm not here to talk about what happened, but instead, I'm here to talk about what it's like to be on the other side of the storm.

And the reason why it's taken three attempts to come up with today's single episode is because nothing I wanted to say felt right.

The idea that I originally had, the second idea I came up with, they just didn't hit.

They didn't land.

Not after the people who I introduced to you this month here on this podcast.

If you go back a few weeks ago to the beginning of October, I introduced you to Kate Gladden, an amazing woman from Australia, rocking that sexy cool accent.

And yet she's endured the pains of life, from the loss of her sister to then the tragic loss of her mother.

Then very next week, I introduced you to Amber Smith, a wife, a mother, a Christian, an amazing woman who endured the ultimate pain, the loss of her three-year-old son, River.

And so when I was thinking about recording this episode, you know what I was originally planning on talking about?

It was about finding the good and the bad, of how I've managed to find the blessings and what has happened to me.

But then I released these interviews.

Then I even released the interview that came out last week, the one with my mom.

And none of what I was going to say felt right.

Because there's a big difference between the perspective after the storm as opposed to being in the storm.

And I have to think that maybe quite possibly you are in the storm.

And so I don't want to tell you to find the good, to look for the blessings, to be positive when you're in the storm.

Instead, I think the best thing for me to do is to share with you my own thoughts, my own opinions about being in the storm.

And more importantly, what I held on to to get out of the storm.

Today is going to be a bit different than most episodes.

A little bit of rambling, a little bit of just my thoughts and opinions of the guests who I've had on the podcast the past few weeks.

Guests who honestly have stories that have impacted me in very big ways.

And so today, I hope to just give you a fresh perspective, a little bit of an insight into what's happening in my head, not only on the anniversary of such a big day in my life, but also trying to celebrate this anniversary with a new perspective brought on by the guests here on this podcast, especially Kate Gladden and Amber Smith.

So, my friend, if you're up for a journey with me today, I hope you'll stay tuned.

And in case you might be new here, you've never met me, well, first and foremost, welcome to Great Grace and Inspiration.

I am your host, Kevin Lowe.

I am also an inspirational public speaker.

So, with that said, my friend, if you hear what I got to say today, you think, man, I like this guy's energy.

And maybe you're part of an association, an organization, maybe part of your church or your company, and you know that you guys have an annual event coming up.

Well, maybe you could pitch the idea of, you know what, there's this cool guy with a podcast.

I think he would be perfect for our event.

If so, you can learn more about what I have to offer as a speaker by going to kevinspeaks.org.

Again, that website is kevinspeaks.org, where you can learn more about what I can do as an inspirational public speaker.

And with that, my friend, I turn it over to today's episode.

This is episode 417 of Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.

Yeah, I got grit, grace, and inspiration on my so where I want to go with today's conversation starts us off on a road trip.

Yes, we are traveling on the interstate, and you're in the middle of the drive.

You've been driving for a while, you've gone through all the normal headaches of traveling, light traffic, congestion, road rage, all the things, but things have been going good at this point.

You're finally cruising along.

You've been cruising for hours, you've got a long day ahead of you.

And then all of a sudden, the weather changes.

It starts to rain.

Maybe it's light at first, just a few sprinkles on the windshield, but then all of a sudden it gets harder and harder.

And you can see up ahead that it's completely pitch black.

The car is coming the opposite direction.

They've got their headlights on, wipers going.

You can tell, oh man, it is storming up ahead.

And so you keep going though.

Finally, you find yourself in that situation where you're in a complete downpour.

You can't see the car in front of you.

Your wipers are going 10,000 miles an hour back and forth, back and forth.

Your spouse in the passenger seat, they're gripping tight, scared, telling the kids to be sure that their seat belts are buckled.

Because, well, in the middle of the storm, there's uncertainty.

You can't see like you used to.

You can barely see the front of the car, much less what's ahead of you.

And in this situation, most people do one of two things.

If it's really bad, a lot of people go ahead and pull over, turn the flashers on, pull over into the emergency lane, and just park with the idea of just waiting the storm out.

Other people, they keep going.

Even if it's slower than normal speed, they just keep inching along.

Now, there is a third type of driver, and that is the person who uses this to their advantage.

Because they know that in the middle of the storm, when everybody else is going to the slow lane, maybe pulling over and stopping in the emergency lane, there are those who realize, you know what?

I can just get in the fast lane.

And best of all, find a semi-truck who's flying through the storm in the fast lane, and you just fall in right behind that semi-truck.

Not only are they blocking the horrible rain pounding down, giving you this kind of tunnel effect, but you're also just cruising along with them in the driver's seat.

They're kind of guiding you through this path.

That's the situation that we find ourselves in in life, is when the storm hits, and what do we do?

Do we wait it out?

Do we pull the covers over our head and try to sleep it all away?

Do we continue plugging through and do what we can?

Or do we try to find a shortcut, a cheat code, leaning on somebody who's maybe already been there, done that, somebody who we can get advice from?

I'm not gonna say that there's a right way or a wrong way to approach the storms of life.

I believe it depends on each one of us individually.

It depends on the storm.

It depends on the day.

But what I'm gonna say is that no matter which choice you make, you're gonna get out of the storm eventually.

Yeah, maybe if you pull over and park it in the emergency lane, it's gonna take a little bit longer.

But if that gives you peace of mind and that feels right, then that's what you should do.

If it is better for you to just keep going, even if at a slow rate of speed, well, do it.

Or if you're the kind who just want to get out of the storm as fast as possible, then find somebody who you can hitch a ride with.

Find that semi-truck who's cruising along through the downtown city and they're not slowing down, and you just fall in right behind them.

Whatever way you want to do it, I encourage you to do it.

Now, it's easier said than done, though, because when we're in the storms of life, it's scary, it's uncertain.

And a lot of times our lives have just been destroyed.

As I said in the intro of today's episode, this episode is coming out on the 22-year anniversary of the day that I became blind.

To be honest with you, this anniversary is always kind of weird.

I tend to want to celebrate it because the fact is true is that even though this anniversary marks the day that I became blind, it also marks the day that my life was saved.

Thankfully, God used the hands of the pediatric neurosurgeon, Dr.

Trumbull, to save my life.

If it hadn't been for that surgery, they said that I would have died in less than six months.

I was only 17 years old.

So I, being Mr.

Positive myself, Mr.

Glass Half Full, I always have big hopes for this anniversary, celebrating life, living it up.

But then it always just happens.

Around this time, about a week before, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I just get sad.

Matter of fact, last week I was sitting there mid-morning and just found myself crying.

Not crying because I'm sad, not crying because I wish I could see.

It's just the emotions, the weight of this anniversary.

It just sneaks up on you.

I can only imagine that you probably have times like this in your own life.

It's maybe the anniversary of when you lost someone you love, the anniversary of a divorce, a marriage that you tried to save, but ultimately it had to end.

And it crushed you.

And maybe still today it eats you alive all these years later.

But the most important thing about it is that you made it through.

You made it through the storm.

And so what I want to be sure that I get through to you is that in life, we're guaranteed to have hard times.

As much as I wish every day of life would be smooth sailing, as much as I wish that there were no storms, there are.

It's life.

And the most important thing for us to remember, though, is that they are temporary.

They aren't all the time.

And yeah, some of the storms they hit harder than others.

Some make you wake up blind.

Some take away every dream you ever had.

Some take away something that you didn't even realize was a gift until you no longer have it.

But the fact is true is that the storm does pass.

We will make it through it.

It doesn't mean that it's easy, doesn't mean that we want it to happen, but we will make it through it.

Now, how we make it through the storm, that's the hard part.

For me, it all came down to the two most important fundamental pieces of who I am.

That is my faith and my family.

If I had not had the relationship with my creator, with Jesus Christ, my friend, there is no way that I would be here today.

Because there were so many nights when I would beg God to give me the courage, the ability, the way to kill myself.

Because I would pray and I would beg God to let me see again, to just let me wake up in the morning and see again, just let this nightmare be over.

And yet, every morning I'd wake up and I still couldn't see.

And in those prayers, in those fits of rage in the middle of the night, crying into my pillow, I would ask God, if you're not gonna let me see, then please let me just kill myself.

Let me in my life because I knew that if I could go to heaven, I'd be able to see again.

And I wouldn't hurt.

But my friend, I had God with me.

He never left me.

In the hardest time of my life, Jesus is the only reason I am here today.

Because he held me in the moments when I needed him.

Now, I understand that you might not be a Christian.

You might not have a personal relationship with Jesus.

If you don't, then my friend, I guess I would love to just say that I hope one day you can.

Because as I said, I don't think I would be here today if it weren't for the relationship that I've had with Jesus Christ.

That is the simple truth.

I don't claim that I am strong enough, that I am positive enough to have gotten through this storm alone.

It has only been through my faith and my family.

Now, when I say family, for you, I understand that you might not have your family.

You might not be close with your family.

But I want you to find somebody, some group of people who you can be close with.

Whether that is a group of friends, it's colleagues at work, it's people in your church, get involved in some type of group setting where you can develop a family, people who can be there for you when times are hard, when the storm hits.

Because when we're going through the storms of life, we're not meant to go through them alone.

We're meant to lean on each other.

We're meant to have somebody to help us.

For me, by the grace of God, I had my family, the most amazing family.

Yes, I might be slightly biased, but I got to have them.

I can remember in the middle of the night crawling into bed with my sister just to lay there and have somebody to cry with.

I did that with my mom, with my dad, and my nana.

None of them could make me see again.

None of them could take away the pain, but they gave me somebody to be with.

Somebody who I could go through this storm with.

And I'm here to tell you, 22 years later, that it was hard, that it was difficult, that it was something that I would not wish on my worst enemy, what happened to me, what happened to my family.

But with time, you gain perspective.

With time, you heal.

And here today, my friend, I can say with all honesty that I have to be grateful that God chose me to be the one to go through this.

Because I have to believe that God knew that I would be a better person, be able to serve a greater purpose in this world, having gone through what I did than if I hadn't.

That is why I am here today on this podcast.

That is why I am an inspirational public speaker.

That is why I get up every morning with a smile on my face, is because I want to use what I've gone through to make a difference in somebody else's day.

I just want to make you smile.

I want to give you hope.

I want to give you the inspiration and motivation to keep going, to not give in, to not give up.

Because this life, it's worth living.

It's worth loving, even in the storm.

So, my friend, today, I guess I just want to leave you with this.

That if you're going through your own storm in life, realize that it's temporary, that you will make it through it.

I promise you.

You just choose your strategy.

Is it best for you to park it, to pull over, and wait it out?

Is it better for you to keep going, to keep plugging away?

Or is it better for you to find somebody who you can lean on for support?

Somebody who's already been there, done that.

Whichever path you choose, and trust me when I say, you don't just have to choose one and stick with it.

No, I think they all kind of work together.

They all have their place in helping us get through the hard times of life.

But just realize there is a path.

There is a way forward out of the storm.

I'm 22 years past the storm.

And it hasn't been easy, but it has revealed to me blessings that I am so grateful that God taught me along the way.

So, my friend, with that, I hope something I said today may have resonated, may be exactly what you needed to hear.

I'm off to go be with my family on this anniversary on October 28th, 2025, 22 years later, after the day that changed it all.

So, with that, I'm your host, Kevin Lowe.

This was another episode of Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.

My friend, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for being here.

Thank you for supporting this podcast, for supporting me.

It truly means the world to me.

I hope you have an amazing day, and I will see you next week.

SPEAKER_01: It's okay to me scary.

It's okay to feel warm.

Just don't let go of the wheel in the middle of the storm.

Sometimes life flips the sky without warning.

One minute sunshine, the next is poor, and your plans are washed out, your faith gets weak.

You're just tryna breathe, tryna find your feet.

You might feel lost when the thunder rolls and trouble hits harder than it ever told.

But even when the lies been stolen away, you're stronger than that darkest day.

It's okay to cry, fall upon a little.

In the middle of a metal, you never at Bowen looks like I'm a cute whole time.

You ain't done your balls.

You're still here, you're still strong.

In the middle of the storm Some storms hit quick and move on by.

Others take months to even drive.

But every raindrop on that glass proves you still here.

This too will pass.

Lean on some on if you need a hand.

Nobody heals alone in this land.

Even the whip.

Even the car can be the stranger.

It's okay to cry to fall upon the lip.

To curse, cloud right in the middle of a battle.

You never rest to five.

When every mouth looks like I promised you don't die.

You ain't up, your heart is full.

You're still here, you're still strong in the middle of the storm.

Storms don't last.

The skies don't stay black.

You see the sun again.

Just give yourself that chance.

The clouds right in the middle.

Love a story still being written true.

The world means every part of you.

I know it hurt, but stay the course.

Let love keep your spirit warm.

SPEAKER_00: You're still here.

Hold on in the middle of the storm.

It's okay to be scared.

It's okay to feel warm, you're not alone.

In the middle of a storm.