😓 It can’t be good unless it's hard?

Book of TREE 1.66

Lie: if it’s easy, it’s bad.
Lie: it can’t be good unless it’s hard.

I was the victim of the protestant work ethic combined with spending my teenage years in a religious cult that was deeply suspicious of people doing anything that they loved. If you were naturally good at something, they taught, you should probably give it up, especially if doing the thing made you happy. Life was about sacrifice.

I really bought into it for a while.
I gave up drawing.
I gave up graphic design.
I didn’t go to university.

Except that I wasn’t any good at not drawing or designing. I just kept doing drawing and designing things, even when my job was something else. Eventually I realised that if something came naturally to me, it probably meant it was something I should be doing, not something I should be giving up.

So I accepted that I draw and design. It’s part of who I am. I eventually went and got a degree too. Those were three wonderful years.

If you find something that you are good at,
something you that brings you joy,
something that feels playful even when you are working incredibly hard,
something that creates good in the world,
KEEP DOING THAT THING.

The National have a live album coming out in December!

Happy weekend!
Jeff