I used to think that in order to be great at CrossFit, you must have gone through experiences or situations in life that required you to muster this same amount of focus, drive, passion, or resiliency. Some people say that great actors are great because they have emotional depth from emotional experiences that they can bring to the stage or screen; similarly, I believed that in order to push through the treacherousness of our workouts, you had to have some sort of experience pushing through treacherousness in life.
This may be true, but personally, I believe there's an alternative way of looking at this.
The goal is not to simply succeed at CrossFit. The goal is to succeed in your life. Your life doesn't need to help you be better at CrossFit, but CrossFit can certainly allow you to be better at life.
I believe that the countless deadlift/wallball workouts I have done in my life that have made me cry have prepared me to be more resilient when I believe I am broken. I believe that the countless lifts I haven't made in competition have prepared me to understand, appreciate, and bounce back from failure. I believe that the Friday Massacres I have trudged through have prepared me for the battle of business I face now.
When it comes down to the things that matter most, those things probably do not end up being CrossFit. But I guarantee that CrossFit has influenced those things. For me, what matters is the business. It's the community. It's these two gyms that stole my heart the minute I set foot inside them the first time. For you, maybe your kids, your own business, your wife, etc. At some point in your life, you will go through failure or defeat or encounter a debilitating setback in the area of your life that matters the most to you. And when that happens, and you struggle, and you feel broken, and you uncomfortably feel your way through this adversity, I hope you also remember your CrossFit journey. I hope you remember that you didn't start where you are now. That you worked on that snatch for hours and hours and months and months, and finally you had a breakthrough. I hope you remember the countless massacres that defeated you until one day you bested one. I hope you remember that backsquat PR that was a year long in the making.
Don't run away from the struggle at CrossFit - it's better to learn the struggle inside these walls than outside them. And when you DO unfortunately happen to meet obstacles outside these walls, not only will you be mentally and physically equipped to handle them, but you'll have a whole lot of people willing to face the struggle with you.