If your first year in college has been tough,younow know you can handle any rough transition thrown at you in the future. A growth mindset is an attitude that you are never finished growing. It is the belief that you can always get better.

It’s natural for negative thoughts to be the reaction immediately following trauma. But they can become paralyzing if we continue down that rabbit trail. I had to pull myself together and have some emotional stability. My slip and fall was purely an accident. You have to be willing to take risks to grow and succeed in life. This means that you should be willing to put yourself in a position where you could fail. By focusing on what you have, you will no longer focus on what you don’t have. And, the truth is, we all have far too much to be miserable about. So, start practicing gratitude now and you’ll go a long way to becoming a happier person. Some experiences are so awful you for sure won’t be thinking about growing through them, but since you are here, I assume you are going through something difficult that still isn’t the end of the world. It’s a perfect chance to grow as a person and I respect your choice to aim to do that.

In a way that’s true: every experience we have, good or bad, affects how we think, feel and act. But growth brings up images of ‘better’ or ‘more’, a process of expansion, right? So what does growth look like in the face of adversity? We don’t have to go through difficulties alone. I am guilty of this one. I’ve always tried to handle things on my own. Over the years I’ve found that I struggled to get through tough times more than I should have. I still have to remind myself that there are others in my life that can help.

You get the point: growth does not just refer to climbing a symbolic ladder to reach the top, it can also mean you explore deep emotions or broadening your perspective on life. It’s not burying your head in the sand, and not dealing with a pressing issue or challenge you face, but it’s seeking out and making the best of a bad situation. When going through difficult times, many people fail to grow through what they go through because they see themselves as powerless and blameless. You can never completely control what happens to you but you are not without blame or responsibility in some way. You are not a complete victim so do not see yourself as one. How have you contributed to your struggles? Is it a decision you made or failed to make? Have you put up with something without taking a stand? Maybe you let things slide with others when you shouldn’t have.

3. Think about how your experience can help you later

Keep a positive “anything can happen”attitude and you will always be ready for whatever comes your way. In other words, you will have come a long way into ‘growing through what you go through‘ in being prepared for anything that can happen along your journey of life. This is possibly the most important step to take when you want to grow through something difficult. Hard times are a part of life, but you can learn something from each of them. You should never give up on trying to accomplish great things. You should keep trying and never let the “failure” of one attempt stop you from trying again. If you have a growth mindset, you will keep trying until you succeed. 8. Cultivate An Attitude Of Thankfulness Dig deep and persevere through your struggles, failures, and mistakes. You are capable of more than you know.