Kurt Vonnegut wrote: “When I was 15, I spent a month working on an archeological dig. I was talking to one of the archeologists one day during our lunch break and he asked those kinds of “getting to know you” questions you ask young people: Do you play sports? What’s your favorite subject? And I told him, no I don’t play any sports. I do theater, I’m in choir, I play the violin and piano, I used to take art classes.
And he went WOW. That’s amazing! And I said, “Oh no, but I’m not any good at ANY of them.”
And he said something then that I will never forget and which absolutely blew my mind because no one had ever said anything like it to me before: “I don’t think being good at things is the point of doing them. I think you’ve got all these wonderful experiences with different skills, and that all teaches you things and makes you an interesting person, no matter how well you do them.”
And that honestly changed my life. Because I went from a failure, someone who hadn’t been talented enough at anything to excel, to someone who did things because I enjoyed them. I had been raised in such an achievement-oriented environment, so inundated with the myth of Talent, that I thought it was only worth doing things if you could “Win” at them.”
Category: things to remember
brotherlysuggestion:Remember: Resting isn’t transactional. You don’t need to do anything special or…
Remember: Resting isn’t transactional.
You don’t need to do anything special or extra difficult to deserve a break.
You don’t need to reach a certain goalpost of suffering and exhaustion before you’re allowed time off.
Resting for a day doesn’t mean that you’re obligated to work twice as hard the next day.
Humans need variety. Humans need quiet time. Humans need time to “shut off”, whatever that looks like for them.
You’re allowed to be human. You’re allowed a break. Don’t burn yourself out, okay?
books-and-cookies:With the end of the year fast approaching, there’s always this rush to…
With the end of the year fast approaching, there’s always this rush to finish your goodreads challenge or a certain number of pages or any other goal you’ve set for yourself, reading wise. And I just want to tell you: breathe deeply, it’s okay if you don’t reach those goals. It’s okay if you’re one book or 50 below your challenge or if you’ve only managed to read a book or a chapter this year.
We tend to get so competitive with ourselves, with others, that we often forget that the whole point of reading is to have fun. Escape the world. Live somewhere else for a while. Find peace or meaning. It’s not a competition or a race or a struggle. It shouldn’t be stressful or anxiety inducing. And if it gets to that point, it’s okay to take a step back and reevaluate.
And always, always remember that you’ve been a reader since you read that very first page and realised “man, I love this”. And no one can take that away from you.