From Facebook’s COO and Wharton’s top-rated professor, the
#1 New York Times best-selling authors of LEAN IN and
ORIGINALS: a powerful, inspiring, and practical book about
building resilience and moving forward after life’s
inevitable setbacks.
After the sudden death of her husband, Sheryl Sandberg felt
certain that she and her children would never feel pure joy
again. “I was in ‘the void,’” she writes, “a vast emptiness
that fills your heart and lungs and restricts your ability
to think or even breathe.” Her friend Adam Grant, a
psychologist at Wharton, told her there are concrete steps
people can take to recover and rebound from life-shattering
experiences. We are not born with a fixed amount of
resilience. It is a muscle that everyone can build.
OPTION B combines Sheryl’s personal insights with Adam’s
eye-opening research on finding strength in the face of
adversity. Beginning with the gut-wrenching moment when she
finds her husband, Dave Goldberg, collapsed on a gym floor,
Sheryl opens up her heart—and her journal—to describe the
acute grief and isolation she felt in the wake of his death.
But Option B goes beyond Sheryl’s loss to explore how a
broad range of people have overcome hardships including
illness, job loss, sexual assault, natural disasters, and
the violence of war. Their stories reveal the capacity of
the human spirit to persevere . . . and to rediscover joy.
Resilience comes from deep within us and from support
outside us. Even after the most devastating events, it is
possible to grow by finding deeper meaning and gaining
greater appreciation in our lives. Option B illuminates how
to help others in crisis, develop compassion for ourselves,
raise strong children, and create resilient families,
communities, and workplaces. Many of these lessons can be
applied to everyday struggles, allowing us to brave whatever
lies ahead. Two weeks after losing her husband, Sheryl was
preparing for a father-child activity. “I want Dave,” she
cried. Her friend replied, “Option A is not available,” and
then promised to help her make the most of Option B.
We all live some form of Option B. This book will help us
all make the most of it.
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