In our last essay – part one of this three-part series – we explored how children form adaptations as survival mechanisms to what they endure in traumatic situations. We also explored what eight common childhood trauma adaptations can look like and provided cognitive and behavioral examples of how these can play out.

Today, in this second of the three-part series, we’re going to explore how all of these adaptations can become someone’s proverbial superpower.

Adaptations are not good or bad; they are both/and.

Very likely, reading the previous list of common childhood trauma adaptations in essay one of this series, you may have viewed them negatively or with some sense of heaviness, maybe thinking “Ugh, I see myself in this list. This sucks.”

But before you get too self-critical, I want to emphasize something important:

Despite the fact that these adaptations may have sprung from very painful experiences and may feel challenging to reflect on, it’s important to bear in mind that these, like with most everything in life, are not simply good or bad; they are both/and.

Meaning that each of these adaptations, no matter how “bad” they may seem on the surface, probably equipped you with unique skills and gifts in your adulthood, long after they helped you survive overwhelming childhood experiences.

They became your “proverbial superpowers” as much as they may feel like your “proverbial Kryptonite.”

Let’s unpack this more.

How childhood trauma adaptations can become adult superpowers.

Childhood trauma adaptations, once purely survival mechanisms, can evolve into adult “superpowers” – qualities and characteristics that enhance resilience, creativity, empathy and, quite frankly, even success in navigating life’s challenges and opportunities.