Having a good life and feeling happiness are not only made up of positive feelings, fortunate coincidences, and success. It’s as important to face life’s hardships and survive them. A happy life can include dozens of positive and meaningful things, but also adversities, bad luck, and hardships.
An important factor in leading a good life is resilience, the way in which one accepts difficulties as part of a happy life. You also need to find the necessary coping tools and resources from your environment in order to overcome difficulties.
The American Psychological Association (2014) defines resilience as the process of adapting well in the face of highly stressful adversity or trauma. Resilience means “bouncing back” from these difficult experiences.
Different setbacks are a part of life, and they give us the possibility to improve our problem-solving skills and become more flexible in our thinking and actions. There can be post-traumatic growth, which makes a person stronger and more skilled than they were before the traumatic event.
Resilience is not only coping with challenges but acting dynamically and proactively. There’s always hope involved with surviving. Resilience aims at the future.
More information online
The process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress ̶ American Psychological Association, What is resilience? Major qualities associated with resilience.