Post-traumatic growth (PTG) explains positive transformation following trauma.
PTG was developed by psychologists Richard Tedeschi, PhD, and Lawrence Calhoun, PhD, and holds that people who endure psychological struggle following adversity can often see positive growth afterward.
Let’s break that down
First, we have to understand what trauma is. It’s not a big scary word. Everybody has experienced it in some capacity.
Trauma, put simply, is an experience or series of experiences that leave behind a negative emotional (sometimes physical) reaction.
So this trauma we’ve experienced in the past (or even currently in relation to COVID, politics, and social division) is not going to break us for good. Yes, it’s excruciating to endure at the time, but you don’t have to feel that way forever.
The best is yet to come.
The past can’t get better, but the future sure can.
You see, we can only grow if we’re faced with adversity. If everything went perfectly our whole life, we wouldn’t be challenged to overcome any little thing… and any little thing would break us!
The harder the life experience, the greater the opportunity for growth.
The fastest path to personal discovery is to experience something so life-changing that it causes a heightened level of internal and external awareness.
This new awareness can lead to increased inquiry, learning, and growth if/when we commit to overcoming the negative imprint of our trauma.
Life Practice
- List everything you’ve learned from your trauma.
- Identify 3 areas of personal growth as a result.
- Repeat these areas of growth as encouraging mantras daily.
Be New Again.
