Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg gave a very emotional speech on Saturday as she had opened up to the public for the first time about the sudden death of her husband. Her husband, Yahoo veteran and SurveyMonkey CEO David Goldberg, died at the age of 47 due to a cardiac arrhythmia that happened more than a year ago. The incident happened while the couple was vacationing in Mexico.
Sheryl Sandberg Often Had to Climb Back From Her Tears as She Delivered Her Speech Regarding the Death of Her Husband
Sheryl Sandberg said the following in her speech: “For many months…I was swallowed in the deep fog of grief…an emptiness that fills your heart and your lungs, constricts your ability to think, or even to breathe,” Sandberg, 46, said during her commencement address at the University of California, Berkeley, several miles north of Silicon Valley and the Facebook campus. I learned about the depths of sadness and the brutality of loss, but I also learned that when life sucks you under, you can kick against the bottom, find the surface, and breathe again.”
While giving her speech, she counseled the new graduates to always be resilient and to always be wary of the three common reactions that people take whenever misfortune may strike. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said to the new graduates to not to automatically blame themselves and “not everything that happens to us happens because of us.” She also mentioned that they should not let a crisis in one part of their lives blind them towards the good things that are still existing around us. Also, they should not make the mistake of thinking that the sorrow of such an incident will last forever.
“In the face of the void or in the face of any challenge, you can choose joy and meaning,” Sandberg said. “You will be defined not just by what you achieve but by how you survive,” she said. Even though there were intense moments during several parts of her talk, the Facebook COO made room for lightheartedness. There was even a point wherein she stated some of the disappointments the graduates might soon face in the future.
Sheryl Sandberg wittingly said: “You applied for an internship at Facebook, but you only got one at Google.” She also added, in a reference to the Tinder dating app, the following: “She was clearly the love of your life, but the she swiped left. You will almost certainly face more and deeper adversity.”