This Many Traumatic Experiences Make You Stronger, According To Science

It would be really difficult to go through life without ever experiencing hard times.

I'm talking about real situations like injury or assault, natural disasters, loss of someone close to you or serious money issues.

At some point, we all experience some level of trauma. Some experiences are worse than others -- there's a spectrum, for sure -- but there's a specific amount of trauma that makes you stronger emotionally.

In a study published on American Psychology Association, researchers asked 2,000 American adults how often they suffered a major trauma. They found that people who have experienced more than one but no more than four were more satisfied and calm.

People who had suffered just one or more than four traumas were more fragile, depressed, less satisfied and anxious. They also saw this group struggled with work and socialization.

It's proven that traumatic experiences allow people to have deeper relationships and make people more compassionate and comfortable with intimacy.

Trauma can also motivate people to develop themselves in a certain area of their life. Scientists call this phenomenon post-traumatic growth. For example, this guy recently lost his best friend to cancer from secondhand smoke. The trauma motivated him to quit smoking and help other people quit. The reality of his loss motivated him to strengthen his personal values.

So even if something hard has happened to you, just know that a silver lining exists. Traumas we experience in life put other negative experiences into perspective.