About this talk
At 35 years old, Kate Bowler was living the life she always wanted for herself. She had married her high school sweetheart, become a mom for the first time, and landed a dream job in academia. She worked hard, and she felt like those efforts were paying off for her just as they should. After all, good things happen to good people, right?
But that same year, Kate received an unexpected diagnosis of stage 4 cancer. In that moment, her life—and her system of beliefs—was turned upside down. Today, over 3 years later, Kate is working to understand how people can live full lives in the face of pain, suffering, and uncertainty, and she’s sharing her findings with the world. Check out Kate’s emotional 2018 TEDMED Talk to learn what happens when we finally give up control and accept that there may not always be a hidden logic to the chaos of life.
About Kate Bowler
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Kate Bowler is a New York Times bestselling author, a professor at Duke Divinity School, and a popular podcast host. Her work centers on the difficult topic of suffering, and she often challenges the idea of “toxic positivity” — the belief that everything happens for a reason. After she was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer at age 35, she began a national conversation about how to speak openly and honestly about life’s hardships. She’s the author of several books, including the memoir “Everything Happens for a Reason (and Other Lies I’ve Loved)”, which became a bestseller and helped many people feel less alone in their struggles. She also hosts the award-winning podcast “Everything Happens,” where she talks with guests like Malcolm Gladwell and Anne Lamott about how they’ve dealt with difficult circumstances. In recent years, she has continued to write, publishing works like “No Cure for Being Human” and a devotional called “Good Enough: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection.” Her work provides a mix of personal stories, humor, and historical research to help people navigate a world that isn’t always fair or easy.
