What to Do When Your Faith Is Shaken and Everything Feels Like It’s Falling Apart
How to navigate through your darkest moments, rebuild faith, and find strength in the struggle.
In order to make things better, you first have to stop making them worse.
It’s like being in a boat with holes. You can bail out as much water as you’d like, but if you don’t fix the leaks, more water will always come in.
And don’t try to just bail faster. You have to stop everything, plug the holes, get rid of the water and then move forward.
But sometimes, letting go of the way we’ve always done things, even when we know it’s not serving us, is the hardest part of the process.
Why though?
Maybe because identifying the holes in the first place is really challenging work.
Some are obvious. Others are sneaky and do the most damage. Some are so below your radar that they are almost impossible to see.
But leaks there are, and if you don’t work on them you’re going to have a difficult time moving forward anywhere quickly.
::ugh::
There are endless ways to tackle a problem. Many helpful. Many not so much. In fact, too much good advice can be its own challenge. Perfectionism seems to sneak in and convince you that unless you do it “the right way” then you shouldn’t do it at all.
And yet, there are so many “right” ways…how do you choose?
If I know anything about perfectionism, it’s this: it’s one of the fastest ways to make sure that nothing ever gets done.
::the two part battle::
The first half of the battle is identifying the problem.
If you can do that, you’re halfway there. But this is where most people stop. They find the cause of an issue, and then just let it fester. You can’t stop here.
Knowing what’s wrong is not enough.
So welcome to the most difficult half of the equation: choosing a path of action and actually sticking with it.
Disciplining yourself to dig in the same spot, over and over again, is where the real work happens. You have to keep going and see it all the way through.
But if you’ve never traveled this path before, if you have no frame of reference for what’s possible, it can feel really scary.
It’s the easiest thing in the world to abandon the path when things get hard and you venture into the unknown unsure of where it all ends.
But that’s what’s called for. It’s a necessary element of faith.
::gulp::
A while back, I had a dream that life works like the rings of a tree.
Each ring represents a period of growth—lessons, challenges, moments of insight. But as you hear the call to adventure and rise to the challenges in front of you, you move into new rings.
The rings are about expansion and depth.
Some rings tell stories of progress. Others represent seasons of drought, stillness, or pain. But each is part of who you are and who you’re becoming.
No matter what you’re going through, the tree continues to grow.
I’ve been stuck in the same ring for quite some time.
I’ve made efforts. I’ve succeeded. I’ve failed. I’ve risen to the occasion, and I’ve quit more times than I’d like to admit. But in my heart, I know exactly what I need to do to move forward. I know what I need to let go of and what I need to embrace.
There’s a threshold I have to cross, and it’s rooted purely in trusting my heart.
Trying to solve this mentally, emotionally or physically won’t work. You can’t move through something on the same plane in which it was created.
Here’s the tricky part…
I don’t know how long it will take to get to where I need to go. But I know this: I will get there. I just have to trust that the path is true.
This journey is about commitment to the future and faith in the present. Old keys will not unlock new doors.
Ah. The lessons make sense now.
Years ago, I experienced such extreme losses that both my faith and my belief in what was possible were crushed. That’s what devastating moments do—they make you question everything.
Your value.
Your worth.
Your ability to succeed.
Who you are really are.
And when your faith is shaken, it’s easy to focus on the water flooding the boat and forget that you have the tools to plug the holes.
It’s easy to be overwhelmed by past failures and lose sight of what’s possible for you.
But here’s the truth: you are capable of extraordinary things.
And if you give yourself what you need to heal, you will.
That’s the trick—you have to give it to yourself.
No one else can do it for you.
You have to be the one to patch the holes, to bail out the water, to steer the boat in the right direction. It’s not easy. But it’s possible.
Where I stand now, after one of the most stressful periods of my life, I return to an idea that came to me quite some time ago:
It could be better than you’ve ever imagined.
That’s the message I keep hearing.
But the price I have to pay is my unwavering belief in that idea. No half-hearted attempts. No second-guessing myself. Just pure belief that what’s on the other side is better than anything I’ve known before.
This ring of life has taught me more through suffering than I ever thought possible.
It’s taught me…
To stay in the moment.
To look forward to the future.
To stay rooted in the present.
To walk with an open heart.
To trust in the unknown.
To know that I’m guided every step of the way.
This has been quite the ring.
Maybe that’s the whole point of life. To keep expanding and growing through it all—even when the pains are very real.
It’s about knowing that every ring is a chapter in a larger story.
The boat, the holes, the water—it’s all part of the journey.
And the only way forward is to trust yourself and the current of your life.
Because who knows?
It could be better than you’ve ever imagined.
Here’s how you can integrate this:
Intention: To regain faith in yourself and your journey, even during life’s most challenging moments.
Reflection: Take a moment to think about a time when your faith in yourself or your path was shaken. What helped you keep going, or what could have helped you at the time? What lessons did that experience leave you with that you can draw on today?
Practice: This week, identify one “hole in the boat”—an area in your life where you feel stuck or overwhelmed. Instead of focusing on everything at once, take one small, deliberate action to address it. Whether it’s making a call, setting a boundary, or dedicating time to self-care, commit to that one step. At the end of the week, reflect on the progress you’ve made and how it feels to take charge of your journey, even in small ways.
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And, of course, my undying gratitude (which, let’s be honest, is priceless).
Thank you for being here,
—Evan
Would absolutely love to hear what you think of this!