Pam had always adopted an attitude of ‘looking on the bright side’ and would avoid anything she saw as ‘morbid’. However, when her husband, Len, was killed in a car accident, her whole world was turned upside down. She became very depressed for quite a while, constantly focusing on what she had lost and on how much she loved Len. However, over time, she slowly began to come out of her depression and begin to face up to life again. She tried to go back to her happy-go-lucky former ways, but it all felt so false now. How could she ‘look on the bright side’? However, what she did come to realize was that she had a new-found maturity. Having lost Len she was very aware of the blessings she still had, but she was also aware that it does not pay to be naive about the pain and suffering that are also part of people’s lives. Ironically, such a devastating blow as the loss of her husband had helped her grow as a person. She felt better equipped to cope with life’s challenges without trying to brush them under the carpet and realized that the whole experience – extremely painful though it was – had made her more resilient.