Recreating Joy

I’ve started reading Sheryl Sandberg’s new book, “Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience and Finding Joy.” You likely remember that Sandberg, COO at Facebook and author of Lean In lost her husband Dave suddenly a couple years ago.

Her title comes from a conversation with a friend where when she said, “But I want Dave!” Her friend replied, “Option A is not available. So let’s just kick the shit out of Option B.”

It’s written in her voice although she wrote it along with psychologist Adam Grant. It’s easy to read, conversational and includes her story along with insights she learned from Adam and stories of others who’ve faced adversity.

In reading her book I’m reminded that grief is a great leveler and we can all learn from each other.

Sheryl Sandberg is a well-known, high-profile business woman with small children and a demanding career. She had to muster the strength to parent grieving children and keep running a huge company after her loss.

I’m a middle-aged (Yikes! How’d that happen?) woman with no children who works from home. I have no husband, no kids, no job, no pets—just a few plants that struggle to survive! I had no real reason to get out of bed after losing my husband seven years ago.

Yet we share many of the same feelings, same frustrations, same challenges and same fears after losing our husbands.

Someone once told me that we judge our insides by other people’s outsides. That’s true with how we handle adversity, too. We often feel inadequate when we can’t immediately bounce back and take trauma in stride when others appear to have done so.

What we don’t know is that somewhere someone is looking up to us and thinks we’re doing an amazing job.

Appearing invincible doesn’t help anyone. Sharing our story of being knocked down and getting back up lets others know they can survive too. No one’s unbreakable. We can all become more resilient.

I applaud Sheryl Sandberg for sharing her story across the country. It will help and inspire countless others!

How about you? Have you found encouragement in the story of someone else? Have you shared your own story to help another?

Myra McElhaney is an author and speaker who helps people to Enjoy Life and Do Good! Visit her website at www.MyraMcElhaney.com. Her memoir, Building A Life You Love After Losing the Love of Your Life is available at Amazon.com