The last thing she ever said to him was “I’m falling asleep.” In vacationing with friends, Sheryl Sandberg and her husband, Dave, were relaxing on a beach in Mexico. When Sheryl woke up an hour later, Dave was gone. They found Dave collapsed in the hotel workout room. Dave died a short while later at the hospital.
I’m Mark Martin with "Martin’s Must Reads" and so began the odyssey Sheryl Sandburg and Adam Grant describe in the book Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience and Finding Joy. In Option B, Ms. Sandburg describes the horrible days and weeks after her husband’s death. She writes with a genuineness that makes clear she still lives with her grief. It is refreshing to read a story involving grief where the author does not sugar coat the reality of death but brings the loss to you in its full ugliness.
More importantly, the authors focus on resilience. They wrote, “Resilience is the strength and speed of our response to adversity—and we can build it. It isn’t about having backbone. It’s about strengthening the muscles around our backbone.” Resilience is what enables the person grieving to get up and go on with life even though his or her heart aches from the huge hole called loss.
The authors write, “This book is about the capacity of the human spirit to persevere.” As Christmas approaches and winter sets in, the reality that a loved one will not be with us this year becomes more acute for many of us. Sheryl Sandburg and Adam Grant in Option B give a practical book reassuring the reader grief does not have to consume you.
