Stronger Than You Think, Sherry Hamby, PhD
Stronger Than You Think, Sherry Hamby, PhD
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Stronger Than You Think
Building Lifelong Resilience

Author: Sherry Hamby, PhD

Narrator: Yolanda Miller

Unabridged: 8 hr 57 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 05/26/2026


Synopsis

We’ve never been in greater need of resilience. We’ve also never misunderstood it more.

At one point or another, life will break us open. This is when we need resilience most—but as psychologist Dr. Sherry Hamby reveals, many of us are going about it the wrong way. Resilience isn’t something you either have or don’t. Instead, it is a modifiable process—meaning anyone can learn, practice, and benefit from it across every stage of life.

Drawing on more than thirty years studying violence, trauma, and recovery, Dr. Hamby reveals that the key to becoming more resilient lies in harnessing the necessary resources and assets to thrive after hardship. She calls this your resilience portfolio. The more and different kinds of strengths in your portfolio—in the form of internal assets like meaning-making and regulatory skills, and external resources like supportive social networks and physical environments—the more quickly you can bounce back from adversity, and the better prepared you’ll be to weather future hardship.

Accessing and nurturing these strengths is simpler than you think. Through client stories and her own journey of resilience, Dr. Hamby walks readers step-by-step through evidence-backed tools and strategies for regulating impulses and emotions, modifying your social and physical ecologies to promote greater wellbeing, and infusing your day-to-day with a deeper sense of purpose.

Loss, betrayal, and suffering might break us open, but it is never too late to put together the pieces of a good life. Stronger Than You Think invites us to access the kinds of strengths that stand the test of time.

About The Author

Sherry Hamby, PhD is an award-winning distinguished research professor of psychology at the University of the South. She is also the director of the Life Paths Research Center and founder and cochair of ResilienceCon, a conference on strengths-based approaches to overcoming trauma. Dr. Hamby has authored or coauthored more than two hundred scholarly articles and five books, and her work has appeared in the New York Times, USA Today, and HuffPost, and on CBS News. She lives in Tennessee with her husband, two children, and two rescue dogs, Flopsy and Slim.


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Quotes

Praise for Stronger Than You Think

"Dr. Sherry Hamby teaches us that trauma and adversity don’t block our capacity to grow and thrive even when our trauma burden is high. She integrates science, compassion, and actions we can take today to build and sustain our resilience ‘portfolio.’ As a psychologist, this book provided me with new insights, and as a survivor, I felt validated and seen."
—Ramani Durvasula, Ph.D., psychologist and New York Times bestselling author of It’s Not You

"Clear, grounded, and deeply practical, Stronger Than You Think cuts through the performative healing and ‘just communicate’ advice that keeps people stuck and gives you tools to stop self-abandoning, build real self-trust, and become more resilient. You’ll feel called out and understood."
—Sabrina Zohar, certified dating and relationship coach, entrapreneur, and host of The Sabrina Zohar Show podcast

"Dr. Hamby hands us not just the science behind true resilience but also a literal equation for increasing and building more resilience in our lives. In these dark and stressful times, her book is a light and a balm for how we can take who we already are and what we are already doing to more deeply resource ourselves and feel even more supported and powerful. An essential read for anyone with trauma!"
—Andrea Gutiérrez-Glik, licensed clinical social worker, psychotherapist and author of Healing the Oppressed Body

"Stronger Than You Think opened my eyes in ways I hadn’t expected. Dr. Hamby provides a greater understanding of how the idea of resilience has changed in society and the medical profession, and she writes with such clarity and tenderness in her stories of trauma and recovery. But as a person who has struggled—and who loves others who have felt overwhelmed by hardship—this book provided me with a fresh way to look at my community, at my environment, at my own life, and feel like I can thrive."
—Kevin Wilson, author of New York Times bestselling novel Nothing to See Here and The Family Fang

"Trauma is a worldwide problem, and Hamby’s thoughtful analysis and commonsense steps are sure to be welcome."
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