Adversity Articles
The Road to Resilience
How do people deal with difficult events that change their lives? The death of a loved one, loss of a job, serious illness, terrorist attacks and other traumatic events: these are all examples of very challenging life experiences. Many people react to such circumstances with a flood of strong emotions and a sense of uncertainty.
Yet people generally adapt well over time to life-changing situations and stressful conditions. What enables them to do so? It involves resilience, an ongoing process that requires time and effort and engages people in taking a number of steps. ...
Joni Eareckson Tada Encourages Optimism in Face of Trials
Joni Eareckson Tada, who has resumed travel since her cancer went into remission, sympathized with struggling Americans and wounded soldiers, offering them words of encouragement during her Thursday speech at the National Day of Prayer.
Tada, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in June 2010, was on stage Thursday addressing the depressed outlook that is affecting many Americans.
"Americans are nervous; Americans are restless; and what troubles me the most is that Americans are uncharacteristically pessimistic," she said.
Tada, a quadriplegic who served as honorary chairman for this year’s National Day of Prayer, credited the uncharacteristic change in Americans to a number of things including "the national debt, rising gas prices, partisanship, political partisanship, in fact, right here in D.C.
“And boy, it doesn't help when you sit at home and watch videos of the tsunami (in Japan) and the tornadoes down South."
All those things, she believes, have left many overwhelmed and decidedly "throwing in the towel." ...
Can a Devastating Shark Attack Really Lead to a Better Life?
Post-traumatic growth, family, and spirituality in the Soul Surfer story
Published on April 10, 2011 by Melanie A. Greenberg, Ph.D. in The Mindful Self-Express, Psychology Today
Tonight, a friend and I took our tween girls to see the movie SoulSurfer, about Bethany Hamilton, a teenage Hawaiian girl whose left arm was bitten off by a 40-foot tiger shark on Halloween. The title comes from a term used to describe surfers who surf because it is their passion, not just because of the competitions. The movie was an inspirational story of a brave young woman who, with determination, family support, and religious faith, was able to return to surfing, eventually winning a world championship and becoming a professional surfer. Bethany's story was truly inspirational and is a fine example of what psychologists call post-traumatic growth—the ability to derive positive benefits from adversity. Although traumatic events, such as a shark bite, are painful and difficult, going through this experience may induce psychological maturity and a new appreciation of life. ...
Despite Illness, Author Pushed to the Finish Line
Laura Hillenbrand battled chronic fatigue to write the story of Seabiscuit, the underdog racehorse who became a legend.
by Jennifer Frey - Washington Post Staff Writer
March 27, 2001
The little room on the second floor of the Glover Park row house is organized to perfection, though this is something that an outsider would not understand. The water cooler, the glasses, the bowls and spoons -- all sit only a small lift of the wrist away. Cereal boxes line the top of the desk -- Weetabix, Total, Fiber One -- and milk is stored in a mini-refrigerator that doubles as a table for a fax machine and a half-dozen bottles of pills. Scrapbooks are piled on the floor, within easy reach. Papers clutter the desk.
For nearly four years, Laura Hillenbrand sat in this room for up to eight hours a day and carefully, painstakingly, re-created the story of a Depression-era racehorse and the three eccentric men who made up his world. She almost never went out. Some days, she didn't even go downstairs.
Instead she pored over old racing programs and newspaper clippings...
The Power of Incremental Change Over Time
I have always been fascinated by the power of incremental change over time. Most people underestimate this. They think they have to take massive action to achieve anything significant.
I am not opposed to massive action. I have used it myself to achieve certain results. But it causes most people give up before they ever start. They just don’t think they can make the investment.
For example: ...