All of us have, in reserve, enormous potential for coping with different situations. When changes confront us, we tap into our problem-solving repositories. We draw upon an array of troubleshooting methods and coping strategies. However, if we’re not exposed to change, those talents remain untapped.

Our various stages of growth condition us to developmental change. We see infants grow into adolescence, then into adulthood.  We see the barren limbs of winter sprout spring leaves, then burst into blossoms, which mature into summer fruit.  We see fall foliage grow dull and recede once more into the barrenness of winter.  As birthdays pile up, we encounter sickness and death among our loved ones, and quietly accept the fact that one day they’ll claim us too.  These changes are a part of our normal existence, and humans naturally learn to cope with them.

But, when a disaster; economic depression or crime and/or violence hit close to home, we need to tap into our repository of coping strategies.

Our neighbor, Anna, found a way of coping with cancer took her husband. She found that twice-a-week visits to the sick at the hospital were not only a great way of giving back, but it brought her, as well as those fighting illness out of their loneliness. She regards these comforting visits as a gift to her husband.

The most positive approaches for getting through life-changing events are drawn from our repositories of problem-solving behavior and coping strategies.

We accumulate these mechanisms simply by living and enduring.  They are there to draw upon when change falls heavily on our lives.