When victory is our only goal, we miss out on life's richest rewards. But what about triumphing over trauma? Isn't that a worthy goal? The answer, of course, is yes. And yet too often we rush to put our difficulties behind us, thinking this allows us to get on with our lives and marks us as resilient. What if the best way forward is not to skip to the end but to struggle for as long as necessary?

Licensed marriage and family therapist Claire Nana, LMFT, is passionate about the remarkable concept of posttraumatic growth. Having endured the murder of her father and incarceration of her...