How I Learned to Cope with Disappointment, Setback, and Crisis
Setup
Atlantic Media owner David Bradley offers a personal story of what he knows now, at 64, that he didn’t know in his youth about coping with setback and disappointment. In small part a personal narrative, though much more the uncommon story of an American journalist held hostage by al Qaeda for 660 days — the talk focuses on the inescapability of personal setback and known frames for getting through the worst. As a point of departure, the conversation touches on the famous Harvard happiness study and the three largest predictors of who reaches older age both happy and healthy.
- 2017 Festival
- Society
Big IdeaLife is a sine curve — it’s up, it’s down, it’s up, it’s down, until the end. The only thing you can know at the bottom of the curve is, you’re coming back up. The only thing you can know at the top of the curve is, you’re coming down.David Bradley
Explore More
Society



You may have heard of "Dry January" and mocktails, but what is being "sober curious" really about? Ahead of Aspen Ideas: Health, Sans Bar's Chris Marshall explains the growin...

Are you truly tuned in to the sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and textures that surround you every day? Ahead of her book talk at Aspen Ideas: Health, best-selling author Gret...



The pandemic put into stark relief deeply-ingrained gender roles in society, as the burden of unpaid care fell to millions of women who left the workforce. Yet the past years...

Friends, partners, children, families, coworkers — these connections profoundly shape our lives and happiness. For many of us, the upheaval of the past few years became an une...



















Jump in by watching our ten most popular talks of all time. From black holes to jazz and civil rights to psychology hacks, we've collected the talks that remain audience favor...





From the Supreme Court's ruling on abortion rights to public health's role in addressing gun violence to the devastating human toll of the war in Ukraine, this year's Aspen Id...

