Dani Shapiro and Nora Ephron
Hey guys,
Sorry I missed last week's post. It's funny thing to think that people are reading what I write, and it puts a lot of pressure to make sure that what I put out there is good. I'm still learning to write though, so it won't be any good for a while at least. I hope you know that.
What if this was my last day?
I was reading a blog post earlier by Dani Shapiro which cracked me up. I enjoy writing like this. It's so human. And because of that it's so relatable.
Nora Ephron is another writer who I admire for the same reasons - here's a paragraph I liked from an anthology of essays she published:
“The realization that I may have only a few good years remaining has hit me with real force, and I have done a lot of thinking as a result. I would like to have come up with something profound, but I haven’t. I try to figure out what I really want to do every day, I try to say to myself, If this is one of the last days of my life, am I doing exactly what I want to be doing? I aim low. My idea of a perfect day is a frozen custard at Shake Shack and a walk in the park. (Followed by a Lactaid.) My idea of a perfect night is a good play and dinner at Orso. (But no garlic, or I won’t be able to sleep.) The other day I found a bakery that bakes my favorite childhood cake, and it was everything I remembered; it made my week. The other night we were coming up the FDR Drive and Manhattan was doing its fabulous, magical, twinkling thing, and all I could think was how lucky I’ve been to spend my adult life in New York City.” - Nora Ephron
This bit got me, because I've caught myself thinking and doing (in my own way) the same thing. I'm only 22 years young, but I've felt that tug to make the most of my life. Maybe I feel this way because there's a longing to do things I haven't done yet. That I haven't yet experienced those magical, twinkling lights of Manhattan; or met those people who I'd be grateful to call a friend. It's knowing that if I'm not doing it now, then when will I? Debbie Millman has this saying of 'If not now, when?'. I think this is a good kick in the bum.
But it's also important to cut yourself some slack for not always working on stuff that's meaningful. I don't think the reason why we put these things off is from a bad place. Sometimes you just forget. Though you think you'd remember because it felt so important at the time, but I can imagine being pretty stressed if those goals were hanging over me all the time.
Career Stuff
Like the week before last (and all my newsletter really) I've left this until late. I don't think I can write something good in the time I have left, so I'll update you in the coming Friday.
Till next time,
Evan