I was listening to Arianna Huffington chat with Tim Ferriss on his podcast. As a 14-year-old growing up in Greece, she saw a picture of Cambridge University in a magazine and told her parents she wanted to go there. Everyone said that would never happen because she didn’t speak English and they couldn’t afford it. Except her mother. She said, “I’m sure we can make that happen.” So, Arianna started learning English, took the entrance exams, applied for and received a scholarship, and attended Cambridge. It changed the trajectory of her life. Beyond inspiring.
Since then, she has written 15 books, co-founded The Huffington Post and raised two daughters. She didn’t realize how exhausted she was with work until one day she collapsed, broke her cheekbone, and got stitches. This led her on a journey of self-care, well-being and launching Thrive Global with a mission to end burnout.
Why are we living as we are and what should be prioritized for our journey, our health and our happiness?
In Arianna Huffington’s book, Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom and Wonder, she writes, “It is very telling what we don’t hear in eulogies. We almost never hear things like: “The crowning achievement of his life was when he made senior vice president.” Or: “He increased market share for his company multiple times during his tenure.” Or: “She never stopped working. She ate lunch at her desk. Every day.” Or: “He never made it to his kid’s Little League games because he always had to go over those figures one more time.” Or: “While she didn’t have any real friends, she had six hundred Facebook friends, and she dealt with every email in her in-box every night.” Or: “His PowerPoint slides were always meticulously prepared.” Our eulogies are always about the other stuff: what we gave, how we connected, how much we meant to our family and friends, small kindnesses, lifelong passions, and the things that made us laugh.”
We must remember that the little things are the big things. Our health and happiness are in our hands. We often look elsewhere for it, but it’s almost always in our own backyard.
Arianna loves a quote from Marcus Aurelius, “People look for retreats for themselves in the country, by the coast, or in the hills. There is nowhere that a person can find a more peaceful and trouble-free retreat than in his own mind. So constantly give yourself this retreat and renew yourself.”
How can we renew ourselves today, embrace peace of mind, and continue to thrive?