Is Your Child a Startup? Watch My Keynote to Find Out

Background

April is National Stress Awareness month. Over the years I’ve become more committed to helping others (and myself!) manage stress better since I’m overwhelmed by how many health conditions my patients face that are directly connected to stress. I’ve put a list of links to some of my key prior blog posts on stress management at the end of the post, but I strongly encourage you to watch my recent keynote (it’s less than 12 minutes long) below. First, some background.

I had the honor of being the keynote speaker at this year’s 10th annual South Asian Heart Center gala. One of the founders, Ashish Mathur, threw down a challenge when he approached me. He told me I want you to talk about something that is really personal and unique and try to keep it within 12 minutes. I know from doing two prior TEDx talks that shorter talks are far more challenging to prepare for than longer ones, but this was a special event by a special organization and an opportunity to influence a large audience.

I thought long and hard about this and decided to focus on something I’m truly passionate about…the emotional and physical health of our children and how our cultural norms and expectations are having adverse consequences on the entire family unit. I had a few tearful and emotional teenagers and young adults approach me after the lecture since my talk clearly hit a nerve.

I also discussed a growing entity that I call “Chronic Entrepreneur’s Syndrome,” where highly successful entrepreneurs who are extremely fit with normal labs are succumbing to heart disease and other chronic health conditions. Many of these obsessive and maladaptive thought patterns started in childhood and I hope my message helps all of us think twice before we pass these same habits, along with their health consequences, onto our children.

Watch my short talk and if you can relate, please share with others.