In her interview with Rachel Whetstone from Google, Arianna discusses the moment that changed and redirected her life. April 6, 2007 when she collapsed from over work and exhaustion. That was her wake up call. And she began examining her life by asking questions like, What is a good life? What is Success?
She noted that in our patriarchal driven society there has traditionally only been two metrics that measured success, and compared that to a two-legged stool, eventually it will fall over. Arianna suggests a third metric well-being, she knows that women especially in the workforce have a 40% higher risk of heart disease and a 60% higher risk of diabetes than men.
Arianna says there have been two revolutions for and by women and she would like to suggest a third, women changing the world and outlines this in four sections of her book Thrive.
1) Health
2) Wisdom
3) Wonder
4) Giving.
We have been taught that the way to success is complete devotion to that premise and work it 24/7. That is a delusion the effects of sleep deprivation are far-reaching, yes it impacts our health and overall well-being, but also our relationships, our creativity, our ability to provide the stimulus for change.
Instead she argues for experimenting in how to do things in a different way, with tiny micro steps, like leaving our electronic devices to charge outside of our bedrooms, not answering the phone or checking for data messages in the middle of the night, using an old-fashioned alarm clock instead of our cell phones, having a landline with no data capabilities just for answering in an emergency.
“We are wired for giving” Arianna announces later in this talk. Our markers for disease go down when we are engaging in joyful giving. Find ways to bring back joy to your life, follow your creative passions even if they are not your life’s work or what provides the money, but rather that which succors the soul.
Original source: Arianna Huffington interview at Googleplex with Rachel Whetstone on Talks At Google’s YouTube Channel
