Supersurvivors

Have you ever been in awe of some people who manage to not only overcome enormous challenges, but to go on to thrive or, as the authors put it, super-survive? This moniker is reserved not for people who merely survive astonishing hardships, but for those who go beyond what they may have expected to accomplish prior to their challenging experiences. This is the war vet who loses a leg, survives PTSD, and goes on to win marathons. It is the child who survives war, genocide, and displacement and goes on to start an international peace movement. Psychologists Feldman and Kravetz ask and then answer the question of how this is possible by reviewing empirical research and recording and analyzing the stories of people who they define as supersurvivors. In this book they explore what it is that these extraordinary people have in common and it is not the usual suspects, like positive thinking. Though they are scientists, they discuss the role of faith and religion in the lives of supersurvivors and elaborate on the differences between blind positivity and a realistic hope and faith based optimism that seems to keep these people pushing forward and excelling in the aftermath of disastrous life events that most of us would be more than happy just to survive. The other astonishing aspect that the authors discover is the common way in which these super survivors describe themselves as nothing special. Read this book if you want to understand how suffering, along with the right combination of hope, faith, and optimism can lead to unexpected and seemingly miraculous results for ordinary people.