Sheryl on building resilience

Published on

For some time I have been in awe of Sheryl. Some of the stuff she does maybe grates a little, but the overall direction is flawless. Today my friend Emma Cashmore, an EMEA Diversity Program Manager at FB told me to look st Sheryl's recent commencement address at Berkeley in which she talks movingly for the first time about building resilience in the wake of her husband's recent sudden death. Her message that in the face of any challenge you can choose joy and meaning and her exhortation to recognise and correct the 3P's (Personalisation, Permanence and Pervasiveness) are absolutely on point. Everything that happens to us does not happen because of us, sorrow will not last forever and a bad thing does not affect all areas of your life - you can still celebrate every moment of joy and be grateful for each breath in and out.

This resonates with me so clearly given my recent reacquaintance with cancer. It also works I think with numerous challenges be they injury or illness, physical or mental. Whatever the challenge, understand the role the 3Ps may be playing (together or on their own) and build resilience in your self! This is I think 22 minutes worth watching. Plus you learn what 'Kick the shit [and Sheryl uses the word] out of option B' actually means. Well if your husband isn't here to parent your kids or you can't not have cancer, let's absolutely make sure that we do the best job we can with what we've got!!

Related Articles

Wellbeing in the city

This feels like a cringey blog to be writing but please bear with me - it will be short.  Wellbeing in the city is a joint initiative between the Samari...

Sleep and its impact on our mental health, and just about everything else

In our training around mental health awareness we use a very simple model, a bucket, to describe our relationship with pressure and stress.  Into that b...

Vanessa Feltz

Now that's not a title I ever expected to give to a blog...Having had a chance to listen back to my interview with Vanessa Feltz this morning, I feel br...

Forbes: Tackling loneliness in remote working

Our expert Amanda Okill tells Forbes what actions organisations and individuals can take.