18th Jan 2024
When faced with a crisis or a trauma, some break down while others emerge stronger & victorious.
We’ve all heard of the term “post-traumatic stress.”
Yet I am far more fascinated by the phenomenon of post-traumatic growth: the instance where a human being actually leverages a setback.
Post-traumatic growth is the positive psychological change that some individuals experience after a life crisis or traumatic event.
Post-traumatic growth doesn’t deny deep distress but rather posits that adversity can unintentionally yield changes in understanding oneself, others, and the world.
Life crises are seismic events. They have the power to shake the entrenched beliefs people hold and force them to think in completely new ways about themselves, their relationships, and the world.
The phenomenon was identified by psychologists Richard Tedeschi and Lawrence Calhoun in the 1990s.
Based on their research, the pair described five categories of growth that occur over time:
Survivors of trauma recognize and embrace new opportunities,
They forge stronger relationships with loved ones as well as with victims who suffered in the same way,
They cultivate inner strength through the knowledge that they have overcome tremendous hardship,
They gain a deeper appreciation for life,
And their relationship to religion and spirituality changes and evolves.
The job of every leader is to find the victory inside every adversity and the task of each human is to turn defeat into winning and tragedy into triumph.
I know that sounds obvious yet those who make their lives beautiful, joyful, and great really do make it a practice of seeing windows of opportunity where most spot walls of adversity.
I’ve been through a lot in my life, we all have.
We have been bruised and bloodied, disappointed and dejected. Yet, I’ve always tried my best to keep moving forward and to seek the blessing inside the curse.
And once you start operating like this, failure becomes a friend and a circumstance that introduces you to your gifts and strengths.
This is when heroes are made.
Please know and trust, that the hardship will pass and the sunshine will most certainly return.
Just maybe, the difficulty has arrived not for your failure but to promote your good fortune. And perhaps, your job is a straightforward one: to gain the growth amid the darkness, along with seeing the roses in the winter.
Stand strong, Honor your talent, Keep moving forward, turn your negative experiences into growth & stay blessed forever.