Everyone has been there at one time or another — the cold sweats or the sickening of the stomach when presented with a challenge that seems totally overwhelming. The initial shock, the process of questioning how could this be happening. Why did this happen to me? What am I going to do? And for some, is life really worth living? An event that causes total desperation!

Whether faced with the possibility of a life-threatening illness in yourself or a loved one or an unfortunate downturn in business that affects yourself, your employees and the suppliers you’ve built relationships with, desperation is there.

But you see, everyone has encountered the challenges. There are those who have lost a family member or a child and have grown past that initial desperation. You’ve heard story after story about challenges that would make most people no longer desire fellowship with others, stories that would send most people into total isolation; yet they have stood strong and have for the most part helped others who have had the same challenge they experienced.

So what do you learn from desperation? How can you say that inspiration is produced by desperation? Can desperation be our friend? Let’s look at what benefits we receive when we find ourselves in a desperate situation.

1. It makes you reevaluate where you are. You must immediately ask the question, what created this challenge? Is it something I did? What principle did I violate to receive this pain? Could I have done anything differently? Was this totally out of my control? Desperation makes you stop and readjust to the now. It makes you take inventory of your life and often puts life back into balance. It forces examination of actions.

2. It challenges your character. It either makes you a better person or a bitter person. It makes you lean on the values learned that keep you secure in your thoughts and actions. It moves you into a stronger pattern of patience and endurance. By beginning to find just how strong you are and how the years have given you the ability to endure much more than thought possible.

3.It slows you down. Often the diagnosis of a disease immediately slows a person down. It makes you look at activities over the years and how our bodies and minds have been treated. Desperation related to a health challenge drives you to the deepest core values and creates a brand new mindset that says “health is the most important asset we maintain,” and we will work harder to feed our bodies. Desperation as related to health is sometimes the only way God has of saying, “You’re too stressful; slow down.”

4.It makes you consider your faith. Many have found in those times of great desperation they move closer to spiritual beliefs.

The greatest cure for desperation is HOPE. It is the only ingredient that can move a person away from that slippery slope of desperation. The hope that tomorrow will be a better day, the hope that relationships will get better. And for those who have lost a loved one, the hope and belief in knowing they are in a much better place.

Whether it is a business not coming together or a much larger family challenge, you were placed here on earth not to survive but to thrive, to give light to those who have none.

Even during the desperate years of the 1970s when this nation stood in “stagflation” for more than a decade, when the Dow Jones hit 850 points, when the lines of cars waiting for rationed gas stretched for two miles and the record was set for bankruptcy, there was new inspiration. Then was when Skylab was launched, the Concorde flew from Europe to the United States in less than four hours and a young man who quit college started a company called Microsoft.

Yes, desperation is the mother of inspiration.

Bob Goshen is an international marketing consultant, trainer and founder of three corporations. He is a former U.S. spy turned global business guru who specializes in creating a leadership culture that gets things done. Bob has developed marketing strategies for such noted companies as Coca-Cola and Sunrider International. For more information, please visit his Web site at www.bobgoshen.com.