Have you heard of Post Traumatic Stress disorder?
What about Post Traumatic Growth?
I have to share what I read this weekend in Shawn Anchor's book, The Happiness Advantage, this weekend.
"Bereavement, bone marrow transplant, breast cancer, chronic illness, heart attack, military combat, natural disaster, physical assult, and refugee displacement. If this reads like a random dip from an alphabetized nightmare list of the very worst things that can befall us, that's because it basically is. But it also happens to be a list of events that researchers have found to spur profound positive growth in many, many individuals. Psychologists have terms this experience Post Traumatic Growth."
"What distinguishes the people who find growth in these experiences from those who don't?"
"There are a number of mechanisms involved, but not surprisingly, midset takes center stage. People's abilities to find the path largely depend on how they conceive the cards they have been dealt."
"The people who can most successfully get themselves up off the mat are those who define themselves not by what had happened to them, but by what they can make out of what has happened. These are the people who actually use adversity to find the path forward."
This weekend was the anniversary of one of my best friend's death by suicide, the anniversary of my break up with my serious ex-boyfriend, and the anniversary of my depression. YOU. CAN. MOVE. FORWARD. I can't even believe that less than a year ago I was depressed, binge eating, in therapy, and an emotional disaster.
You can get through anything in life, you just have to keep trying.
Today I told my friend's spirit that I will help as many people as I can and I will be the best person I can... no matter what, for him, and for myself.
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