10 Inspiring Oprah Quotes to Help You Through Challenging Times

Oprah Winfrey is one of the most successful, powerful, and influential people of our time. She certainly didn’t reach that status without her fair share of challenges, though.

From childhood abuse and poverty, to coming up as a young black woman in an industry dominated by old white men, she’s overcome countless obstacles to get where she is today.

She is the epitome of grit, determination, and resilience, and her perspective on challenges can help inspire us all to push through difficult times.

Oprah is an endless spring of inspiration, so you can turn to these quotes anytime you need a boost.
 
 

Here Are 10 Quotes From Oprah to Help You Through Challenging Times:

These Oprah quotes will help you transform your challenges into success, just like she did.
 

1. “Challenges are gifts that force us to search for a new center of gravity. Don’t fight them. Just find a new way to stand.”

There is no point in fighting with reality. We are not in control of what life throws at us, but we are always in control of how we react to it. That is the beauty of the obstacles we face.

Challenges are always an opportunity to strengthen our adaptability, resilience, and empathy. They force us to grow in different directions and see things in a new light. They knock us down only to prove that we can get back up.
 

2. “Everything passes if you learn to hold things lightly.”

In Buddhist philosophy, attachment is the root of all suffering. We tend to hold onto versions of life that are no longer – or never have been – part of our reality. We get stuck in the past, wishing it were different, or resist the present, arguing it should change.

We are attached to how we want things to be instead of accepting how they are. In practicing non-attachment, we can allow life as it comes and release it as it changes. In this fluidity, there is peace.
 

3. “Turn your wounds into wisdom.”

Oprah often refers to our life here on earth as “earth school.” She believes that we are on a much bigger journey of learning, and this is simply one stop. If you adopt this larger life view, then everything has a purpose and everything is a lesson.

Yes, some experiences are challenging. Some lessons bring about pain. But within the pain, there is always learning. Find the wisdom, so your wound was not for nothing.

Try These 10 Daily Mental Health Reminders During Challenging Times
 

4. “Whatever your reason for holding on to resentments, I know this for sure: There is none worth the price you pay in lost time.”

Time is the vehicle in which we live this life, and how we choose to spend our time determines the experience that we have. The choice is always up to us.

We can choose to experience the pain of the past, again and again, continually bringing it into the present, or we can let go, leaving it in the past never to be experienced again.

It’s easy to feel like we “have to” remain upset, as if letting go invalidates the experience. But it doesn’t. Letting go frees up time and space for a better experience to take its place.
 

5. “True forgiveness is when you can say, ‘Thank you for that experience.’”

Often, when we forgive people, we still hold onto the guilt. While we may no longer punish them or see them negatively for what they’ve done, we still see the act as hurtful.

But if the act continues to be wrong, then we remain a victim to it – it will always be something negative that happened to us. If we can transform the experience from one where we were wronged to one where we are grateful for the growth that resulted from it, we can move from victim to victor.
 

6. “Balance lives in the present. The surest way to lose your footing is to focus on what dreadful things might happen.”

While our minds love to hide in the past or run off into the future, the present moment is all that ever exists. It is the only thing that’s real. The past is a mere memory, and the future is nothing but an unknown territory where fear likes to hide.

If you spend too much time in that territory, fear will convince you that all the unknowns are actually known; that the present moment has caught up to you, and all your worries have come true. It is only in coming back to the present that you will see those fears are not your current reality.

Try These 4 Mindfulness Practices to Help You Cope With Fear (From a Psychiatrist)
 

7. “So go ahead. Fall down. The world looks different from the ground.”

With perspective comes growth. Falling down forces us to release our attachments to specific outcomes and redefine our vision of success.

And as we expand our view of life, seeing it from many different angles, we also build our ability to understand others, our flexibility to withstand change, and our courage to keep going. Every step in life – even the stumbles – helps to ground us in the truth that we are forever in progress.
 

8. “When you undervalue what you do, the world will undervalue who you are.”

We all have a specific purpose, and we are all here to play a particular part. While they are different for each of us, they are all equally valuable. The world needs us all.

There is no value in comparing our gifts to others, seeking out reasons to diminish our contributions. There is only value in recognizing and celebrating our unique talents; in owning our distinct path in this life.

Your worth to others is born only from your worth to yourself.
 

9. “One of the hardest things in life to learn are which bridges to cross and which bridges to burn.”

Life is a series of choices. It can feel overwhelming when faced with many options, but it can be equally depressing when we think there are none. But, luckily, that is only an illusion. There is always a choice.

You don’t have to walk through every door that opens or stay put in every comfortable room. The point of life is that you have a choice. Your power does not reside in the decision you make, but rather in your ability to see all the options and choose one.
 

10. “Look inward – the loving begins with you.”

Much of the pain we experience from the outside world is actually pain that resides within us. Wounds we haven’t healed get triggered, and we suffer.

Sure, the trigger may be life’s fault, but the unhealed wound is on us. We’ve allowed it to live there – a hidden vulnerability just waiting to remind us of its presence. Our insecurities and negative self-image serve as magnifiers for every trying experience life presents to us.

We must love ourselves first and heal ourselves fully. Only then can we change our experience – and the world – to include more love.
 
 

Challenges In Life Are Inevitable, But It’s Important to Learn From Them and Keep Growing

While we can’t avoid challenges in life, we can always learn from them and keep growing. Life is not always in our control, but every obstacle provides us a unique opportunity to learn and grow.

We gain strength in each challenge that we face, and as Oprah so powerfully reminds us with her quotes, it’s important to believe in yourself, stay positive, strong, and grounded, and keep going.

Main Image Source: CGD London