Time and time again we are faced with adversity; the world we live in somehow prides itself on the notion. That's what I believe anyway and just about everyone has gone through some situation that they had to struggle through. It's been around since the dawn of time and we are made stronger because of it. Every so often I go online and read articles regarding life's complexities and recently I read an article called "Cloud and Silver Linings" on Psycologytoday.com.
The writer, Norman Rosenthal discussed how we can learn from adversity and how it is somewhat a means of survival. He explained that adversity comes in three forms, the first being plain bad luck, the other being results of poor decisions or errors in judgment and thirdly the "self-imposed adversity that we see in people who strive for the highest levels of excellence," as he put it. He explained bad luck with examples like inherited illness, the second form is pretty much self-explanatory and the third can be our own demons at times or even wants in my opinion. I found it very interesting and thought to myself, why not share it with the world. He explained that severe adversity is accompanied by predictable psychological changes.
"There is a sense of disorientation because the world has changed. Emotional upheaval is common - sadness, anxiety, and despair may tangle together leading to a state of confusion. Your physiology is disrupted - sleeping, eating, and circadian rhythms may go haywire," he explained.
I'm sure we have all experienced this at some point; I sure know I have but Rosenthal, a M.D. and clinical professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University School of Medicine had some advice. He provided some helpful general principles that he said aided him in his own life.
Listed below are six helpful hints taken from his article to help even the most unlucky, silly and unrealistic of us in the world.
1. Accept that the adversity has occurred. It is natural to want to deny the breakup of a romance or the death of a loved one. As Joan Didion pointedly observed inThe Year of Magical Thinking, she did not want to throw away her dead husband's shoes in case he might come back and need them. Such denial slows down the process of coming to terms with new realities.
2. Proportion your response according to the adversity. This requires analyzing the situation and being measured in dealing with it.
3. Regulate your physical and emotional state by cultivating healthy habits - regular hours of sleeping and waking, eating proper meals, exercising, and meditating.
4. Reach out to others. Friends, family, community, and religious organizations can make a crucial difference at these times.
5. Turn the trauma into a story. The work of James Pennebaker, Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin indicates that writing about your thoughts and feelings for as little as twenty minutes, four times over a week can influence the outcome.
6. Reframe the problem. This is where you may start to see the phoenix beginning to rise from the ashes. It may take a while - days, months or even years - depending on the adversity - but as you recover from the blow, gifts can be found in the rubble. Maybe the relationship was bad for you, and you will make a wiser choice the next time round. Or perhaps you are better off without the job you worked so hard to retain. There are many examples.Research shows that people who have had some adversity are more resilient than those that have been untroubled, lending credence to the expression that one cannot learn to become a master sailor on calm seas.
I am going it a try and let you know how it goes, feel free to let me know how it turned out for you.
