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Precision with language matters. Not all painful life experiences are trauma.

When all stress is labeled "trauma," it sends the message: "I can't handle this."

For example, with insomnia, the goal should be knowing you can handle a "bad night."

As both a psychologist and a parent, I've spent a lot of time thinking about what I want most for my children.When they were young, my automatic answer, and the thing that often drove me to frenetic lengths, was: I want them to be happy. But after years of studying health, stress, sleep, and human resilience, my answer has shifted.

I want them to be resilient and know it

I still want them to experience joy, of course. But beyond happiness, I want them to know, deep in their bones, that life will inevitably be hard at times, and they can handle it. That shift in perspective has also made me think carefully about the language we use to describe stress and adversity.

I realize this may be an unpopular opinion, but I worry we've entered an age where every difficult life........

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