Setbacks hit everyone in this life. This life is not predictable; no one knows what will happen next. The same is true of the world right now; the speed of change is on the rise and that is why resilience is required more than ever now. Resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulty or change. Psychologist Martin Seligman found that there are 3 P’s that inhibit recovery from any difficulty.

1. Personalization: Belief that the difficulty is caused by me and that I am at fault.

2. Pervasiveness: Belief that the event will effect all areas of my life.

3. Permanence: Belief that the aftershocks of the events will last forever.

We can be resilient if we know and internalize that we need to avoid these three P’s, which creep into our minds at times of difficulty and stunt our ability to recover from hard times. If we fall into the trap of these three P’s, it is easy to get stuck in one event and close our eyes to all the blessings and strengths given to us by God.

The positive impact of a setback or a trauma is post-traumatic growth. Post-traumatic growth can take five different forms:

• Finding personal strength
• Gaining appreciation
• Forming deeper relationships
• Discovering more meaning in life
• Seeing new possibilities

Also see building resilience in children