Why It's Worth Allowing Sorrow and Melancholy

Bestselling author Susan Cain reveals in her new psychological guide "Bittersweet" why seemingly negative emotions like grief, melancholy, pain, and suffering are essential to a truly fulfilling life and how they help us unleash our full potential. In her bestseller "Quiet," Susan Cain explored the hidden power of introversion. In "Bittersweet," she employs the same blend of research, storytelling, and memoir to demonstrate how bittersweetness is the key to a fulfilling life. Through numerous vivid examples, she illustrates how understanding bittersweetness enables us to navigate life's transitions.

We live in a society that suggests we must be perpetually cheerful and happy, one that allows no room for sorrow. Yet without light, there is no shadow; without day, there is no night—melancholy, sadness, longing, and difficult emotions are a natural part of our lives. Only by embracing the full richness of life do we discover meaning and connection, love and joy. Poets and composers have known this throughout the ages, creating timeless masterpieces of bittersweet beauty.

In a time of great loneliness and personal anxiety, "Bittersweet" brings us together in deep and unexpected ways by transforming our personal and collective pain into creativity, transcendence, and connection.