cover image Succeeding Sane: Making Room for Joy in a Crazy World

Succeeding Sane: Making Room for Joy in a Crazy World

Bonnie St John Deane. Simon & Schuster, $23 (320pp) ISBN 978-0-684-81853-5

An African American amputee who became an Olympic skier, Deane is also a Harvard graduate, Rhodes scholar, White House appointee and Wall Street veteran. She discovered that her personal life with family and her volunteer work suffered when she devoted herself to such ambitious pursuits, however, while her need for intellectually challenging and fulfilling work suffered when she cut back for the sake of hearth and home. Eschewing today's ""simplicity"" movement as well as the ""seesaw thinking"" that left her feeling unsatisfied in both areas of her life, Deane offers a ""new way"" of achieving both personal and professional happiness. Claiming that ""you can be wildly successful and yet have a deeply meaningful life,"" she suggests combining, or ""blending"" rather than ""balancing,"" one's uniquely valued goals. Dividing these into goals of ""mind, body, and spirit,"" Deane identifies personal ""comfort zones"" and teaches readers how to use them to create a successful and joyful life. As well as sharing a great deal of her own fascinating story, Deane interviewed 30 people ""whose achievements were rooted in their own growth, health and well-being."" Their insights and advice, along with specific, simple examples of blending activities, make this book an unusually valuable tool for the overworked and unfulfilled. (Feb.)