"Life's not fair, but with help, I've got this."

It's just not fair.

I've said those words. Friends and family have said those words. Complete strangers have said those very words.

Why are those words so common place? Because in reality, life just plain isn't fair.

No matter who you are, something in your life is invariably going to go wrong at some time in your life. No one is immune from things going wrong, from experiencing pain. And when things do go "south" as the saying goes, it is easy for the those affected, to feel they are the only ones to be experiencing a hardship. A feeling that is understandable, but not what is reality.

Everyone has different challenges and hardships they face in their lives, in fact, stress and trauma are an inescapable part of life. Each individual simply has a different way to handle it and some may be better at "hiding" it than others.

The difference comes down not to the fact we had the experience, but in how we handled it and how we got through it. We can beat ourselves up with guilt or we can "dig our heels in, roll our sleeves up and get to work on getting through".

The mistakes? There will be some. There may be many. However, a mistake is only truly a mistake if we do not learn from it, grow from it and if we do not work to prevent ourselves from making the same one again.

If you really look at it, life is one big schoolhouse full of lessons to be learned. And no one will sail through this "life education" without experiencing a challenge or two along the way.

My daddy was a very strong man. A man who faced more than his share of challenges. Many in his shoes may very well have just given up and decided "life just isn't fair". Not so my daddy - he got up each morning determined to not only get through each day, but to make it the very best he could.

My father was one of four kids who grew up on a farm near Two Buttes, Colo. As a young man, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, with a mind to serving his country. However, his service was short-lived. While in boot camp in North Carolina, he ended up getting polio. Physicians at the time told him he would never walk again. He let them know quickly he had no intention of not walking again, in fact, he told them the wheelchair he was put in would serve as nothing more than an extra chair at the dinner table.

And so it was.

He took this great challenge before him and his own kind of "lemonade" out of the lemons he had been handed. He did walk again, albeit with the aide of braces on his legs. One would think that challenge would have been enough, but life was not finished with him yet.

He married and fathered six children. He worked his "town" jobs and continued to farm on the side. He rarely complained and to my knowledge never said the words, "life isn't fair" in reference to what he was experiencing himself. He worked hard every day to take care of his family.

There were other life challenges along the way: making ends meet each month, navigating day to day challenges of a family, physical challenges due to his polio, and much more. Then one day he heard the word no one likes to hear - cancer.

On top of all the other rocks in the road of life for him, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Again, he met the challenge with grit, determination and grace - not letting even cancer stop him from living life and being there for his family.

No, it wasn't fair. But, it was life. It was the cards he was handed.

I asked him once what kept him going. One factor was his faith in the Lord. The other? He said he reminded himself whenever he would start to get down, there was always someone out there who had it worse than he did. He used that philosophy even in the use of the handicapped placard he had been given for his vehicle - rarely using it because he didn't want to take a parking spot someone else might need worse.

As a result of who he was, his six kids were raised with  an ethic of hard work, determination, and hearts for doing what they can for other people. They have a strong faith in God and don't let life's challenges keep them down for long. His legacy lives on through them.

No, life isn't fair. It is full of challenges. But no matter what the challenge may be - it is an opportunity as well. An opportunity for growth. An opportunity to learn. Yes, it will test us, sometimes testing us to the point where we think we can do no more - that we cannot possibly make it through it.

And no matter how we may feel about things - we are not alone and we do not have to face these trials by ourselves. There are many who have been where we have been, who have faced what we have faced. Sometimes all it takes is a phone call, a text - just let someone know we are struggling.

No one should navigate this life alone. And no one has to. We just have to be strong enough to say "life's not fair", but with help, "I've got this."