Very few of us would say that 2020 was a great year. And it might be hard to find something good about this last year. However, if we look at it through the lens of post-traumatic growth, we might discover that we have gained valuable lessons that will help us in the years to come.
Post-traumatic growth is a term coined in the mid-’90s and is defined as a positive psychological change in the wake of struggling with highly challenging life circumstances (Tedeschi and Calhoun, 2004). According to the researchers who coined this term, post-traumatic growth (PTG) describes people who undergo a traumatic event and later flourish in life with a greater appreciation and more resilience. PTG involves life-altering and favorable psychological changes that can potentially change the way we perceive the world. It comes with a new understanding of life, relationships, money, success, and health. This type of growth goes beyond acknowledgment or acceptance. It involves personal strength and self-dependence, even if we are still experiencing very challenging conditions. That’s because PTG means we learned to redirect our suffering to something useful. Here are some of the signs that you may have experienced PTG in 2020 (Maitlis, 2020):
Ability to embrace new opportunities – both at the personal and professional level
Deeper personal relationships and increased pleasure derived from being around people we love
A heightened sense of gratitude toward life in general
Greater spiritual connection
Increased emotional strength and resilience
2021 as a Year for Post-Traumatic Growth
This coming year offers an opportunity to find meaning in the wake of crisis and loss, and understand how we have been transformed by our 2020 experiences. Whether you are seeing evidence of PTG or not, there are three areas to focus on to make 2021 a year of personal growth.
Emotional Regulation. Following trauma, emotions such as anxiety, sadness, anger, and guilt can be overwhelming and hard to control, making it difficult to function. That’s why we must develop the ability to process our experiences and move on.
Social Support. Research has consistently shown the value of social support from family, friends, colleagues, or formal support groups in understanding and supporting positive behavior change. It means having someone with whom you can share problems, share joy and sorrow, count on when things go wrong, and lean on for help.
Making Sense of Trauma. Sensemaking is a process through which people seek to understand an unexpected or confusing event. This process involves searching for and creating meaning in the aftermath of a trauma. When we can create meaning out of something difficult, we feel life is more predictable and controllable and perhaps, we regain a feeling of security. One way we can start to process our 2020 experiences is through self-reflection and journaling. This will allow us to ask ourselves questions such as, “what did I learn about myself as I navigated the challenges of the year?”.
As we move into 2021, we can leverage our 2020 experiences to serve as a catalyst for transformational growth and change. This process can shield us against mental breakdown, reduce the impact of grief and loss, and generally help us become better human beings. The following practices might help you jumpstart your year of personal growth.
Cheers to our personal growth in 2021!
References
Maitlis, Sally, Posttraumatic Growth at Work (January 2020). Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, Vol. 7, Issue 1, pp. 395-419, 2020, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3550372 or http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-012119-044932
Tedeschi RG, Calhoun LG. 2004. Posttraumatic growth: conceptual foundations and empirical evidence. Psychol. Inq. 15(1):1–18