Ford's real genius here isn't merely saying we learn from hardship—it's his claim that *enlargement* happens whether we recognize it or not. Most of us wait for clarity, for some moment when we can finally see how a painful chapter changed us, but Ford suggests growth is already occurring in the murk of experience itself, independent of our comprehension. When you've just been fired or had your heart broken, you aren't yet "bigger"—you're simply broken—yet Ford insists the expansion is already underway, even in that fog. This matters because it frees us from needing to understand the lesson before we can move forward; the work is happening in us whether we're wise enough to notice it.