On being grateful
It’s easy to get caught up in the obstacles that make it hard to attain a creative life—lack of resources, lack of time, lack of support, the list goes on. But, it can be useful to shift that way of thinking towards something more productive. As we approach Thanksgiving, why not take time to reflect on the things you appreciate about your work, your process, and your community?
As Christine Garvey put it in her recent guide, How to feel like you have enough, “Getting grateful helps you flip the switch from ‘this is what I’m missing’ to ‘look at everything I have.’”
This isn’t a call to look at everything with rose-colored glasses. Instead, it’s an invitation to realize that every half-empty glass really is also half-full. As we’ve seen in countless TCI interviews, optimism and gratitude can be vital assets for bringing creative work to life.
As we head into Thanksgiving week here in the US, we’ve compiled some thoughts from the vast TCI Archive that might help you ease into your own feelings of thankfulness. We hope you find them useful.
“Many times during the day, it is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. And then I just have to take a step back and remind myself that I was headed in a direction where, if I was still doing that as a 45-year-old man, it would have been tantamount to a literal prison of the soul. I wonder if I would still be alive. So, I have to always express gratitude—no matter how hard it is today, it’s always a victory. But it’s difficult.”
“I’ve grown old enough to be wiser about what success really is, and at times I’m struck with this overwhelming gratitude about everything that has happened to me. It’s still very complicated. The other day somebody asked me what my plan was for the next five years and the only thing that I could think to say was that I just hope to stay above ground, basically. I don’t really think beyond that much. Hopefully I’ll be healthy enough to pursue some artistic endeavor, whatever it is. If I’m not able to perform and sing anymore, if my arthritis gets so bad that they have to strap a paintbrush to my fist so I can paint, I’ll be okay with it. Because life is a gift, you know, and it’s already been given. It’s all what you do with it.”
“Mostly you need to realize that you make your own place as a writer. You make your own New York, your own Beat Hotel. Look, your friends are amazing! Just look at them, you don’t have to become famous and hang out with cool friends. Your mom is much cooler and more complex than you can even imagine.”