A few weeks ago, I woke at midnight to a wall of flames outside my bedroom window.
I raced downstairs to find my laundry room on fire, threatening to engulf the rest of my home. My initial attempt to use my main fire hose failed, as the water supply to that hose ran through the now-burning laundry.
I stood at the front of my home and looked at what was now an unfolding disaster — a growing fire, no water, and the fire department indeterminately far away. The situation seemed utterly hopeless.
In that critical moment — a miraculous wave of clarity arrived. I remembered the rainwater tanks nearby, managed to activate the pump, repurposed the water pipe and created a makeshift fire hose. For 45 minutes, I kept the flames contained until the fire brigade arrived, and extinguished the fire.
What surprised me most was my response in the following days. Rather than feeling adversely affected by the event, I felt incredibly blessed, happy and fortunate that nobody had been hurt and that I had managed to save my home. I experienced a profound sense of gratitude and appreciation.
This, I learned, is post-traumatic growth — the positive psychological change that can emerge from challenging circumstances.
This experience went on to shift my perspective in unexpected ways.
When Cyclone Alfred brought 700mm of rain in 48 hours only days later, leaving us flooded in for a couple of days, I welcomed the opportunity to reflect. Being flooded in wasn't another inconvenience but yet another chance to appreciate how fortunate I was — both in surviving the fire and the floods, and also throughout my life's journey.
This mirrors a principle I encountered at Harvard Business School years ago: crisis presents opportunity. Difficult situations often reveal resources and strengths we didn't know we possessed, and can help us feel gratitude for what we do have.
Working as a doctor and then for the last thirty years running Rites of Passage programs in Australia and around the world, I've witnessed countless transformations as people navigate challenges.
My midnight fire may have damaged my property, but revealed to me something far more significant — a renewed appreciation for my life, and clarity about my own resilience and priorities. We all face our own challenges, whether sudden like my fire or gradual like life's transitions. These difficult moments can become catalysts for growth when we remain open to their transformative potential.
I want to be clear that post-traumatic growth doesn't erase the reality of hardship, and I was very lucky to not suffer more loss in this recent experience. But what I have learnt is that post-traumatic growth can demonstrate our remarkable capacity for renewal and resilience. The very circumstances that test us most severely can reveal strengths, insights and gratitude we might otherwise never have discovered.
