From the course: Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant on Option B: Building Resilience

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Taking back joy

Taking back joy

- About four months after Dave died I went to a bar mitzvah, and I was with childhood friends. And one of my friends, Brooke, took me onto the dance floor and we were dancing. And for like a minute it was just amazing, and then I literally burst into tears on the dance floor. At first I didn't know what was wrong. I thought I was missing Dave, but I'd been missing Dave for months and this felt different. And then I realized I had felt happy for one minute. And then I immediately felt so guilty that I felt any happiness, any joy that I just crumbled. (uplifting music) I told Adam the story about crying on the dance floor, and Adam said, "Of course you're not happy. "It's been four months. "You haven't done a single thing "that would actually make you happy." - So many people struggle with survivor's guilt. When we lose someone close to us, we find ourselves wondering, why wasn't it me? Why couldn't I have saved that person? And I think this is such a natural reaction. I think one of…

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