While a traumatic experience can be challenging and painful, it can also be a significant, positive turning point in your life. In fact, many trauma survivors go on to thrive in new ways.
Here are five benefits of going through the trauma you might not have considered before:
How to deal with trauma
Trauma and its effects are more widespread than many people realise. About 6 out of every 100 Americans will have post-traumatic stress disorder at some point in their lives. It can be scary to think about getting help for trauma, especially if you’ve had a lot of negative experiences with the mental health system. But it’s important to recognize that when it comes to treating trauma, there’s help available. And if you seek help and deal with the trauma, you can see many positive outcomes.
Take the example of the wildfire in California. Many children in California were facing trauma due to recurring wildfires. However, the children learned to cope with wildfire trauma with the help of therapies. If they can, you can too. Connect with a local therapist near you so you can travel to him or her when required. In the above case, you can look for California therapists and get the treatment. The therapist will help deal with any trauma by gradually identifying and coping with the trigger.
Trauma is an experience that has a profound effect on your life. It can shape you positively and negatively, but if you learn how to deal with it correctly, it can have many benefits. Here are just a few of those benefits:
Greater awareness of your possibilities
If you’ve recently experienced trauma and are feeling unsure of how to move forward, there’s a chance that you’re not alone. Trauma can be a life-changing event. You must be patient with yourself as you work through your feelings and begin the healing process.
Most people think that they are self-aware, but only about 10% to 15% of them actually are. What may seem like an unfortunate setback at first can turn into an incredible opportunity for growth.
The setback can give you the much-needed time to think about different possibilities and opportunities you have. You can set new priorities in your life. This will enable you to identify new pathways and possibilities you never knew existed to reach your goals. It will also allow you to think from different perspectives. Although trauma impairs your thinking capabilities, the time you get is sufficient.
Increased personal strength and resilience
You may not realize it, but trauma can actually be a benefit to your long-term mental health. The ability to handle life’s challenges, bounce back from difficult situations, make better decisions, and become more self-aware are all benefits of going through trauma. In a study of Americans’ mental and emotional resilience, 83% of people polled thought they had high levels of resilience, but 57% scored as resilient.
Trauma often forces you to make decisions that push you out of your comfort zone. When you make these choices, you are forced to grow in new ways and become more confident in who you are as an individual. Trauma can help you learn how to deal with stress and anxiety, which will help you manage future stressful situations more effectively when they come up again later in life.
Spiritual enhancement
Spirituality is about connecting with something greater than yourself, which can help you realize that the world isn’t all bad. In many ways going through trauma can change your perspective on life, including a deeper sense of connection to your soul. And even though it may not seem like it at the time, that connection makes life worth living in the first place.
For people with good health habits, like eating right and exercising regularly, spiritual community participation–as exemplified by religious service attendance – can contribute to a healthier life.
A deeper appreciation for life
If you’ve experienced trauma, you know it can be hard to see the positive in anything. It’s easy to focus on the negative and feel hopeless about your life.
However, going through something traumatic can make you feel more grateful for life itself. When you experience trauma, you may realize how fragile life is and what a gift every moment on this planet really is. You’re able to see the beauty of nature and appreciate small things like being able to walk or breathe freely, things that might have been taken for granted before the trauma occurred. In fact, some people who experience severe trauma report feeling grateful that they survived their ordeal (even if they wish it hadn’t happened).
This sense of gratitude helps a person understand themselves better too. You become more aware of what’s essential in your life and why you want certain things out of it, things like safety or security or love, and how those things impact you positively as well as negatively when they’re not obtained by you anymore because you lost them through no fault of your own due entirely instead of just pure bad luck.
Research shows that people who express gratitude have lower blood pressure and heart rate and greater feelings of appreciation toward others. Optimism is also linked to health and mental benefits, such as better sleep quality and more positive expectations and reflections.
Happier and more meaningful relationships
People who experience trauma are more likely to seek new ways of relating with others, leading them to become more open-minded. You may find that after going through something difficult together with your loved ones, your relationship feels stronger than ever before.
The bond between you two is forged by shared experience. Feelings of intense love, devotion, and empathy will come forward because both people experienced something traumatic together as a team. Not only did you survive it together, but now you’re stronger because of it.
Final thoughts
Trauma can be a difficult thing to deal with, but it is possible. You don’t have to run from it or bury it in the past. Instead, you should confront it head-on and work through the process of healing that can come after a traumatic event. This process’s numerous benefits are increased personal strength, spiritual enhancement, and greater awareness of your possibilities for happiness in life. These are just some examples of how having gone through trauma can benefit you in many ways.
David Radar did his degree in psychology at the University of Hertfordshire. He is interested in mental health, wellness, and lifestyle.
