The concept of resilience dates back to the beginning of human existence.
All religions and people groups have identified ways that challenges can lead to growth: Jesus and the resurrection, the phoenix rising up from the ashes in Greek mythology, and even the current obstacle course obsession. Dusty's personal experiences of doing hard things and growing led him to write a master's thesis titled "The Obstacle is the Way: Practicing Elective Stress for Spiritual Growth."
LEARNING IT
The ability to endure the challenges of life begins by knowing it is possible to do so. The concepts of posttraumatic growth and resilience can be explored through various podcasts, books, and academic journals. Start with this blog post to take your next step on the journey to learning more:
The Obstacle is the Way
LIVING IT
In order to truly understand how to endure difficulties it takes actually doing hard things, or, practicing elective stress.
Elective stress: the voluntary participation in an event or activity that is beyond one's self-efficacy.
In other words, elective stress is doing anything that you're not sure you're capable of doing. This could be something as physical as running a marathon or as mental as standing in front of a crowd for a public speaking engagement. It is relative to you: what challenges you?
"If it doesn't challenge you, it won't change you."
- Fred DeVito
LEADING IT
But merely doing something hard does not guarantee growth. Instead, the academic research on posttraumatic growth indicates that there are tools you can practice to increase your likelihood of growth.
Read more here to find out how you can lead others to experience the same growth you have achieved.