Oxford Handbook of Happiness: 90 chapters
Susan David edited a 90-chapter academic handbook on happiness research to understand what genuinely supports versus hinders human well-being.
Snapshot · The School of Greatness
Why Forced Positivity Is Making You Miserable | Susan David
Explore episode
Aug 7, 2026
Where this was said
Susan David's Personal Story: Grief, Apartheid, and the Blank Notebook
At 12:40 · chapter starts 12:10
The conversation shifts into something deeply personal. Susan David was born white in apartheid South Africa — a society built on collective denial and unseeing. At 15, her father died of cancer, and she returned to school days later under social pressure to be strong. Months passed with everyone praising her resilience while she was drowning, bingeing and purging, unable to bear the weight of grief. Then an English teacher handed the class blank notebooks and said six words that changed everything: 'Write like no one is reading.' David began journaling, moved from denial into truth, and discovered the mechanism that would drive two decades of research: the sense-making and meaning-making that happens when we stop performing wellness and start confronting experience. [1] — Susan David "After her father died when she was 15, Susan David spiraled into bulimia while performing strength at school. An English teacher handed her…" 14:30
Susan David's father died when she was 15
Susan David lost her father to cancer when she was 15, an experience that drove her toward forced positivity and eventually toward 20+ years of emotions research after a teacher gave her a journal.
Susan David's Story: From Grief to Emotions Researcher
After her father died when she was 15, Susan David spiraled into bulimia while performing strength at school. An English teacher handed her a blank notebook with one instruction — 'write like no one is reading' — and that single act of being seen launched 20 years of emotions research.
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