Instead of waiting for life to throw a terrible trauma at you, you can cultivate post-ecstatic growth at any time by intentionally undertaking a meaningful project or mission that creates significant stress and challenge for you.

The game was that simple: adopt a secret identity, recruit allies, battle the bad guys, and activate power-ups. But even with a game so simple, within just a couple days of starting to play, that fog of depression and anxiety went away.

And then something happened. I had one crystal-clear thought that changed everything. Thirty-four days after I hit my head—and I will never forget this moment—I said to myself, I am either going to kill myself, or I’m going to turn this into a game.

It turns out that there are seven ways of thinking and acting that contribute to post-traumatic and post-ecstatic growth. And they are all ways that we commonly think and act when we play games. 1. Adopt a challenge mindset. You need to be willing to engage with obstacles and look at stressful life events as a challenge, not a threat. In games, we

A challenge is anything that provokes our desire to test our strengths and abilities and that gives us the opportunity to improve them. Crucially, a challenge must be accepted. No one can force you to tackle it. You have to choose to rise to the occasion.

Tackle an important problem in your life, even if it seems overwhelming right now or out of your control. In fact, tackle it especially if it overwhelms you or feels out of your control.

The game was that simple: adopt a secret identity, recruit allies, battle the bad guys, and activate power-ups.

even when I still had the symptoms, even while I was still in pain, I stopped suffering.

These seven rules to live by make up the SuperBetter method, and they are the heart of this book: 1. Challenge yourself. 2. Collect and activate power-ups. 3. Find and battle the bad guys. 4. Seek out and complete quests. 5. Recruit your allies. 6. Adopt a secret identity. 7. Go for an epic win. If