The Gift of Adversity Book Summary & Insights

“Adversity is like a strong wind. It tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that we see ourselves as we really are.” — Arthur Golden

Do your setbacks hold you back?

Do you stand strong when tested?

Do you turn your worst experiences into your greatest sources of personal growth?

Adversity Builds You Up or Tears You Down

Perhaps the most important question is, are you a victim of circumstance or are you the architect of your destiny?

Adversity can build you up, or tear you down.  It depends on your lens and your choices that follow the setbacks, trials, and unfortunate events that you face.

The Gift of Adversity: The Unexpected Benefits of Life’s Difficulties, Setbacks, and Imperfections, by Norman E. Rosenthal, M.D. is a powerful book about making the most of adversity.

Use Adversity to Grow Stronger and Wiser

In this memoir, best-selling author and psychiatrist Rosenthal tackles the topic of adversity in a very deep and significant way.

Through stories and reflection, he shows us that to live authentic and meaningful lives, we need to engage with our own failures and defeats.

The key is to find value in our mistakes and misfortunes, and to use adversity as a way to grow stronger and wiser throughout life.

Rosenthal talks about three flavors of adversity:   the bad things that happen to us, the adversity we bring about ourselves, and the adversity that we seek out.

He also share methods and techniques for dealing with adversity, including journaling, meditation, and healthy habits for the body and mind to fortify your emotions.

With that in mind, let’s dive into The Gift of Adversity …

What’s In It For You?

Here’s a sampling of some of the things you’ll learn from The Gift of Adversity:

• How what happens to us does not have to define us
• How to embrace adversity in a healthy way
• How to engage with your failures and defeats as a way to live an authentic and meaningful life
• How to use the hardest lessons in life as your greatest gifts that last a lifetime
• How to more effectively confront and understand the adversity we have experienced
• How to build emotional resilience
• How to use adversity as one of your greatest teachers for life
• How to use adversity to make yourself stronger
• How to gain insights and wisdom from your own adversities
• How to gain insights and wisdom from everyone around you including family members, colleagues and friends

Chapters at a Glance

• Chapter 1 — The Thumbs Must Go
• Chapter 2 — An Accident
• Chapter 3 — Crime and Punishment
• Chapter 4 — The Persistence and Fragility of Memory
• Chapter 5 — Know Your Brain
• Chapter 6 — Know Your Body
• Chapter 7 — Be Yourself
• Chapter 8 — The Weight of History
• Chapter 9 — Mrs. Brown’s “Rular”
• Chapter 10 — All the Lonely People
• Chapter 11 — Lena and Lucas
• Chapter 12 — Lessons from a Fly
• Chapter 13 — The Fixer
• Chapter 14 — The Long Reach of Sexual Trauma
• Chapter 15 — Trouble with My Father
• Chapter 16 — Mysteries of Mood
• Chapter 17 — Medical School
• Chapter 18 — A Brush with the South African Police
• Chapter 19 — A Brutal Attack
• Chapter 20 — Born Again
• Chapter 21 – Bootcamp
• Chapter 22 – Homeland
• Chapter 23 – Namibia
• Chapter 24 — Leaving Home
• Chapter 25 — New York City
• Chapter 26 — Hostile Takeover
• Chapter 27 — Supervising a Supervisor
• Chapter 28 — What are the Questions?
• Chapter 29 — Leaving the NIMH
• Chapter 30 — Losing and Choosing
• Chapter 31 — Pride and Prejudice and Sociopaths
• Chapter 32 — Lessons from a Scam
• Chapter 33 — A Ghost from the Past
• Chapter 34 — Don’t Hold on to Grudges
• Chapter 35 — Hold on to Dreams
• Chapter 36 — Taking Responsibility
• Chapter 37 — Reciprocity in Relationships
• Chapter 38 — Learning Something from Everyone
• Chapter 39 — Telling a Story
• Chapter 40 — The Gift of Meditation
• Chapter 41 — By Force of Habit
• Chapter 42 — The Quest for Excellence
• Chapter 43 — Death in the Desert
• Chapter 44 — High Stakes Negotiations at Midnight
• Chapter 45 — A Cousin in Trouble
• Chapter 46 — Meeting with Viktor Frankl
• Chapter 47 — A Patriarch Takes His Leave
• Chapter 48 — Dad’s Last Day
• Chapter 49 — The Death of Galadriel
• Chapter 50 — Appointment in Samarra
• Chapter 51 — Life After Death
• Chapter 52 — It’s Never Too Late to Say, ‘I Love You’

Key Features

Here are some of the key features of The Gift of Adversity:

• Easy to read.   The author is a powerful storyteller and writes in a way that is both easy to read, and enjoyable to read.
• Key Take Aways.   Rosenthal ends each chapter of The Gift of Adversity with a reflection or conclusion. .  For example, in his chapter on grudges, Rosenthal writes:  “Grudges probably harm those who harbor them more than those at whom they are directed.  So, if only for your own sake, avoid registering grudges, and, if you have a grudge list, tear it up!”
• Story-driven.   The author uses stories to inspire and enlighten us as he weaves memories, personal anecdotes, and vignettes into journeys of the heart and mind.
• Timeless wisdom.  Rosenthal has filled the book with great wisdom and quotable quotes.  For example, in his chapter on dreams, Rosenthal writes: “In order to accomplish any long-term goal, it is useful and perhaps necessary to have a dream – a dream as distinct from just an idea.”

Here is a sampling of some of my favorite nuggets from the book …

Reflect with Your Actions What is Most Important in Life

Life’s short.  Know what matters to you, and do more of that.  Rosenthal writes:

“Shakespeare wrote often and poignantly about the ravages of time and argued that we should use this awareness to heighten and intensify feelings of love – ‘to love that well which though must leave ere long.’ 

Awareness of your own mortality can sharpen your feelings and sense of purpose.  Use that awareness to make sure your actions reflect what is most important in your life.”

How To Keep Going

When the going gets tough, the tough find meaning.

Rosenthal writes:

“… Frankl was able to transcend horrors by the power of his intellect, imagination, and humanity.  As a doctor intrigued by the brain and the mind, Frankl not only rose above his settings, but made use of it, to ask a key question: in dire situations, such as concentration camp, what can a person do to keep going?

The answer, as his title suggests, is to find some meaning – something that continues to make life worth living even in the face of disaster.”

The Puzzle of Altruism

If it’s all about self-preservation, why do we care about each other?   Maybe altruism is a survival advantage, or maybe care-taking is simply an aspect of love.

Rosenthal writes:

“The puzzle of altruism has long been debated amongst scholars of evolution.  If the genes that drive our behavior are so selfish, they wonder, why do we see examples of altruism that drives one to care about the wellbeing of others even after one’s own death? 

The latest theory, expounded most famously by sociobiologist E.O. Wilson, is that as different groups of organisms compete with one another, those groups that take care of their members will have an advantage in the battle for survival. 

Or perhaps you would prefer to see care-taking as an aspect of love. 

Both could be true.”

Death is Inconvenient

Death happens.  You know the saying, “You can run, but you can’t hide.”  But death is also inconvenient.  And, it can be freakishly unpredictable.

Rosenthal writes:

“When I have been powerfully focused on a goal, like anticipating Josh’s wedding, visiting my aging mother in South Africa, or completing a writing or research project, I have sometimes thought, ‘Not now – this would not be a good time to die.’ 

Then invariably, I smile to myself. 

Do I really thing death will wait until I decide that the time is right to die?

And indeed, is there ever a good time to die? 

I smile too at Emily Dickinson’s immortal words: ‘Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me.’  With beautiful irony, she seems to be saying, “How nice of Death to realize how busy I was and pick me up personally instead of waiting for me to be ready.’”

Stand Up to Bullies and Recruit Others in that Venture

Rosenthal shares a story where he was bullied on a train by the conductor.  He inspired passengers on the train to help him out.

Rosenthal writes:

“The Sturm and Drang was resolved simply by paying a fine.  Why didn’t the conductor say so in the first place?

I wondered.  But I knew the answer. 

He didn’t want a resolution, he wanted a fight – and to show me who was boss. … Stand up to bullies whenever you safely can, and recruit others in that venture whenever possible.”

Viktor Frankl Lessons

Rosenthal shares lessons he learned from Viktor Fankl:

• It is possible to survive the most terrible of ordeals and emerge from it with one’s body, mint and spirit intact.
• You can find meaning even in the midst of terrible adversity.
• No group of people is entirely good or evil: there are good and evil people in every group.
• It is the rare person who is a hero in the sense that he or she is willing to go up against a regime of terror.
• Finally a single individual can emerge triumphantly out of the rubble and live, love, speak, write, and influence millions of others.

Treat Ghosts as a Challenge and Tackle Them

Don’t fear your ghosts.  Tackle them.

Rosenthal writes:

“Once in a while we are visited by ghosts from our past.  Should a ghost visit you, treat it as a challenge and tackle it with all the resources you can muster. 

As with all adventures, be open to learning, and pick the right friends, fellows (and doctors) to see you through the journey.”

Our Choices Make Us Who We Are

The sum of our choices shapes our lives, both the paths we take and how we choose to respond to whatever happens to us along the way.

Rosenthal writes:

“I see things otherwise.  I agree with Frost.  Whatever road a person takes is by definition the road less traveled because we are each one of us on a unique journey. 

The paths we choose – and the gains and losses we sustain in taking those paths – shape the scope and contours of our lives. 

Our choices make us who we are.”

Draw Strength from Examples

Examples of strength and courage are all around us.  Draw from them.

Rosenthal writes:

“I stopped myself from brooding by recalling Sid Malitz, the acting director at Columbia, and other colleagues who had maintained their dignity in the face of reversals of fortune, and I drew strength from their examples. “

Be the Architect of Your Own Destiny

Don’t be a victim and don’t play the blame game.  Rise above your circumstances and design a new story forward.

Rosenthal writes:

“Many people enter psychotherapy for problems they see as the result of repeated bad luck or the misbehavior of others.  Such chronic failure to take responsibility leaves people like victims of fate rather than architects of their own destiny, which is not an empowering state of mind. 

Why do they think this way? 

Because it is painful to admit errors and shortcomings.   

It is generally far more painful, however, to suffer the consequences as they play out over time.  That’s what happens to people who habitually fail to take responsibility for their actions.”

You’ll Manage Too

If other people can do it, so can you.  Rosenthal writes:

“I had dreaded bootcamp, in part because, having been stabbed only one year before, I felt physically vulnerable. 

But I looked around at others, I knew who had successfully passed through this rite of passage and I said to myself, ‘If they managed, chances are you’ll manage too.’”

Release the Tide in You

Use each day to release your tide.  Rosenthal writes:

“Within a year of my attack, Leora and I had met, fallen in love, married, and conceived Joshua.  I have often thought of that line from Hamlet, ‘There is a tide in the affairs of me, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.’ 

Being attached had released such a tide in me, and I took it at the flood. 

The near-death experience also gave me a lasting appreciation of each day and the opportunity to enjoy and contribute that each day brings.”

Don’t let bad things break you.   Bad things happen to good people all the time.

Grow stronger and learn from adversity.

Get the Book

The Gift of Adversity is available on Amazon.

The Gift of Adversity: The Unexpected Benefits of Life’s Difficulties, Setbacks, and Imperfections, by Norman E. Rosenthal, M.D.

You Might Also Like

Best Books
Book Summaries
7 Tricks for Dealing with Adversity
Expect Criticism, Problems, and Failures
The Undefeated Mind Book Summary