Helping Quarterlife Students Make Sense of Anguish: A Personal Examination of How Traumatic Life Events Lead to Growth and Meaning Making

• Main Author: Vitagliano, William B.
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: ScholarWorks @ UVM 2015
• Subjects: Anguish; Meaning Making; Quarterlife; Relationships; Resentment; Traumatic; Education
• Online Access: http://scholarworks.uvm.edu/graddis/345; http://scholarworks.uvm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1344&context=graddis

Making sense of anguish is an important process leading to personal growth, development, and overall meaning making. Today's quarterlife students (students between the ages of 20-25) may face a variety of traumatic life events that influence how they grow as individuals and are able to move forward from these experiences. I examine several topics that many quarterlife students experience during these challenging years. As a gay identified individual, I examine aspects of `coming out' and the reluctance of blooming into the individual that I wanted to be. I examine the impact of resenting those individuals who may have hurt you and the ultimate growth that results from the pursuit of forgiveness. I then examine the importance of not sacrificing who you are within romantic relationships, and how being in abusive relationships can inhibit one's ability to be happy. Lastly, I close with how despite all of the traumatic experiences one must overcome, we all have the ability to be happy and construct positive meaning from such times of anguish. Written within a scholarly personal narrative methodology, my thesis examines several generational life events that have the potential to cause anguish, and how one can harness personal growth and meaning making from traumatic past experiences.