Suleika Jaouad
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How did Suleika Jaouad's diagnosis shape her perspective on life?
And I kept saying to my doctor, like, I don't know how to deal with this level of uncertainty. I don't know how to keep living my life when I don't know what's going to happen. And he said to me the thing people often say, which is that you have to live every day as if it's your last. And it was exhausting to try to make every family dinner meaningful, to try to squeeze the juice out of every single moment. It was just unsustainable. And so I had to shift to a gentler mindset of trying to live every day as if it's my first.
Zuleika, Zuleika, Zuleika. Welcome to Reclaiming. Thank you for having me on. Oh, my gosh. This is just – I've been feeling the magic of this conversation all morning, and I just feel really lucky.
What role does creativity play in navigating uncertainty?
I feel the same way. I adore you. I've adored you long before I've known you. And I'm just so honored to get to sit with you and share this time.
Yeah. I was thinking about that. I think the first time we met was at TED when you did your TED Talk in 2019. I mean, I don't know that we had a... I feel like we might have because I was so blown away by your talk. I was so blown away by it. And the title, I wrote it down, What Almost Dying Taught Me About Living.
I remember exactly. We didn't actually meet face-to-face. But you sent me a message. Yeah. And I was so surprised and so moved. And, you know, it's one thing to think a nice thought about someone. It's another to take the time to actually write a message. And I think I'm... just continuously inspired by people who translate thoughtfulness into action and who take the time to reach out without any expectation of anything. But just to say, I read your book, I listened to your talk, this moved me. And it's something that I think especially In a world as busy as this one, it's hard enough to do with the people you know, and it takes a special person to reach out in the way that you did to me.
How did journaling help Suleika reconnect with herself?
Oh, my God. When you don't know someone, and it meant so much to me, and I suspect you do that a lot.
Is that true? Well, no. It's funny you're saying this, and I'm thinking about how – there'd be a ton of people who listened. It's like, oh, she hasn't gotten back to me on text in months. So sometimes I'm thoughtful. But I was, I mean... Not only was my experience so heart blown open, tears, you know, but all of my friends that I was sitting with, we were just all so moved. Not just, it wasn't just your story of sort of love life and leukemia. It was your presence. Oh. Just your presence. There's just a magic about you. Thank you. A real magic about you. And so it's just really, really, really special.
Yeah.
I was absolutely terrified.
What lessons did Suleika learn from her experiences with leukemia?
Oh my gosh, right?
I don't think I've ever been more nervous in my entire life. Same. And I had to testify to Congress. So that says a lot. Yeah. I remember waiting in the wings and looking out at that red circle, and I just thought, okay, I'm either going to pass out, throw up, or I guess do this.
Something about the red circle just amps up the anxiety and the pressure.
Yeah, 100%. But your talk was one of the ones that everybody was buzzing about. And I think it was, again, not just the words, but you, your frequency, your heart, your energy. all of it. Thank you. And I had not seen American Symphony, the documentary that you are a subject of, and your husband who has how many Grammys?
Who knows?
I've lost track.
I won't say the number because inevitably I'll get it wrong and he'll correct me after this.
All right.
How does Suleika define the concept of alchemy in her life?
Well, we'll blame it on me that I didn't do my research. But Jean-Baptiste, which was so beautiful. But I wrote down there's this quote from your narration that just like, and so you said, long before our relationship, John and I shared a creative language. We both see survival as its own kind of creative act. And I just, that hit me in such a deep way because I think survival, I think it gets talked, God, I'm like getting emotional. I think it gets talked about in these ways that don't have a beauty in And that was sort of what I felt in what you were saying. I mean, I don't know. What did you mean in that?
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
How did Suleika Jaouad's diagnosis shape her perspective on life?
0:00–1:09
2
What role does creativity play in navigating uncertainty?
1:09–2:50
3
How did journaling help Suleika reconnect with herself?
2:50–3:42
4
What lessons did Suleika learn from her experiences with leukemia?
3:42–4:46
5
How does Suleika define the concept of alchemy in her life?
4:46–8:09
6
What is the significance of small joys in Suleika's journey?
8:09–13:15
7
How did Suleika's relationship with Jon Batiste evolve over time?
13:15–18:57
8
What is Suleika's vision for reclaiming her creative practice?
18:57–1:04:48