Do you take your abilities–your life–for granted?
Taking something for granted means expecting something or someone will always be there…not giving thanks nor recognition to that person nor ability. To value something or someone très lightly.
I read a September 5th PW “Why I Write,” by Duff McKagan, and he said something that got me to thinking: books and their writers he holds in high esteem…the undertaking of writing a book is not something to be taken lightly…and words are a “currency” he highly values.
Okay, this is DUFF MCKAGAN, we’re talkin about–the rock star?
He’s also a self-confessed book nerd and has written his own effort, It’s So Easy (and other lies).
I wondered how many writers out there actually take their own superpower for granted. It sounds stupid, doesn’t it, that any of us would actually do such a thing…but, still…I query.
Writing. Duff loves it. Values it.
But,to all of us, after a while it might become like breathing, you just ASSUME it’ll always be there, that word-slingin superpower of yours. Yeah, you might have been saunterin’ down a Colorado Gold or PPWC hotel hallway, feelin mighty proud of your bad self (and your swagger), hittin that pitch so dead on that the agent or editor drooled themselves into a catatonic state (after signing you on the spot, of course). Or you corrected a passerby’s dangling youknowwhat. Or perhaps you’d even given a rousing presentation to an SRO crowd, a crowd that gave you fifteen (plus!) minutes of continuous and teary-eyed applause.
Or maybe you even helped a struggling and emotional wet-behind-the-ears writer out of a rut and talked him or her into becoming your competition in a few years (yeah, you cried inside–but you kept it inside…).
Yeah, you fucking rock.
I used to feel that way. That I was a writer and I would always be a writer.
Until the day when I wasn’t any more. Suddenly and quite inexplicably.
I think I’d mentioned this before. Perhaps for a later post the reason, but the point is…that I’d suddenly felt I’d lost my ability to write. It was more than your standard, run-of-the-mill “writer’s block,” I’m not sure how I’m gonna actually term it, but I had all these ideas, even story plans…all in my head…but nothing was coming out. I guess I’ve been calling it my “writer’s blockade,” because that’s more what it actually felt like. It’s not that I had no ideas, no stories, it’s just that they weren’t translatin into reality–weren’t gettin out of my head.
For three years!
Okay, I’d written a short story and worked on already existing work–but, you see my friggin dilemma?
Now, I seem to be back in business, but my point is, is that since that weirdness, I’ve been far more appreciative of what ability I have. Even if it’s but a wee, minor superpower, it’s my wee, minor superpower. I can write, and I do write well (okay, maybe I’ve grown a little rusty on some of the finer points o grammar…). That’s not ego, arrogance, nor anything like that, it’s simply courage to know myself and my abilities, which is the first step to thanking that ability (or Superior Being, or reincarnational self, soul, or whatever…) for residing within me. Yes, we do it so often and sometimes so quickly we don’t always have time to be thankful that whatever is within us allows us to word smith, but when we do have those Zen moments of wandering thoughts and free time (!), do we ever give thanks to that which we wield so powerfully?
There are times–don’t laugh–I simply utter a “thank you” out into the universe. That’s it. Just those two words. When something great or good or cool happens to me. It doesn’t matter to whom or Whom I might be addressing, just that I’m acknowledging a cool thing happened, and it was good.
Admit it. We curse the living shit out of situations that piss us off, or make us angry or frustrated, do we not (hey, my hands are raised high and proud–and I frequently get rather potty mouthed about it, too)?We’re all so quick to damn and rage, but heaven forbid we thank something or someone for something positive.
Do we ever think and thank about such things as the ability to breathe? Laugh? Eat? Enjoy a beautiful day? Appreciate a stranger’s smile? A infant’s giggle?
Just today I drove into work and think I only hit 2 lights–and for only a second or two, at that!
I said “thank you.”
My wife is perhaps the most grateful and appreciative person I know. I have truly never met anyone with as much presence of mind in this respect, and from her I have learned to be ever more mindful of being more like her in the art of appreciation. On those days when I come home all angry and spun up, she yanks me right on back down to earth.
You should be grateful you HAVE a job.
You should be grateful you GET a paycheck.
You. Should. Be. Grateful.
So, be pleased you’re a writer, perhaps even a damned good one, acknowledge that to yourself. But also thank yourself, your god, your whatever for that ability. Who knows how long your superpower will last. And thank all those around you who helped you get there. Thank what you need to thank for your ability to breathe and sit out on a deck and hear cicadas or crickets in the evening. To eat in peace. Sleep soundly.
Be thankful for beautiful days, and words, and color, and life.
But, wherever you direct it…just be thankful.
Frank, Even before your aha moment, you were a very grateful person. Who else still sends hand-written thank you notes after attending a party? Glad you’re back writing. And what exactly do you correct about a passerby’s dangling youknowwhat?
Cousin Frank. You should be thankful I’m your wifes Cousin! Just kidding. So you had a little vacation from writing, I think it will make you a stronger conveyer of putting “pen to paper” It’s so easy to point out others faults, it not so easy to point out your own. It takes a lot of thinking to see yourself the way others see you, and then write about it. (I don’t think I could do it and be honest about it!) I’m so very thankful I know you. I’m also glad you will be writing again. You are a creative person that wants to share his creativness with the world through writing. Not a thing wrong with that. I think writing is a way of expressing yourself. (Un-like vulgar words which anyone can use and I think shows lack of imagination.) You have a voice and you want others to read about it. You are creative and tolerant. (Not to mention fun to be around.) Your faults are many just like the rest of the worlds. But un-like the rest of the world, you recognise your strengths, Adjust your weaknesses, and give in to a higher power. (It’s not Un-PC like to belive in God and to accept Christ. To tell you the truth it can make you a stronger person and a person that can share his gift of writing or telling a story that much more powerful.) You are right to say Thank-you, I just wish you would drop the “Higher Power” poop, and be truthful to who that higher power is. It does not mean your imagination or your writings are wrong. With Christ everthing is possible. The Bible is the best selling book of all time. The stories in the Bible are somewhat unbelievable, and just so far outside the normal only faith can help you uinderstand them, Your stories are somewhat like the stories in the Bible. , Evil taking over our lives, Un-natural happenings, and so on and so forth. (All in the Bible) Take your thaughts and compare them to Gods word. You will be amazed at what you will find, and what you can find to write about. Writers block be gone! Frank has ideas and cool stories to tell the world. Frank is Thankful and will once again share his gifts. For this I am thankful. BTW I choose to believe that hanging down thing to be a booger! As I get older my mind is finding it’s way out of the gutter where it has been in prisoned for so many years. I don’t know why. It just seems to be happening as of late. I still love a “Good off colored joke” and when teed off I do slip with the potty talk. But I find I’m thinking of other ways to express myself, and to be funny is one of my favorites. It takes some thinking because I was programed from the 70’s. But I’m happier with myself for being more creative with my words. I don’t have as many “Dark” thoughts as I have had in the past. So while I am working on my vocabulary polution, I find I’m also working on myself as a more concerned person and more aware of what is around me. Life is brighter and I find myself not dwelling on the bad, instead I’m praising the good. Frank I couldn’t have picked a better person for one of my favorite cousins to marry. You are so good together and good for each other. For this I am thankful. OK now I will quit rambling. The Phil
Ha! Thanks, Karen! And I had to miss last year’s party because of travel. The “youknowhat” to which I refered be ye old “dangling participle”! Apparently I didn’t take heed of my own advice and took it for granted people would get my reference!
Live as I say, not as I DO… :-]
Thanks, again, Karen for your kind words!
Cousin Phil, I love ya man! You are such a trip and I wouldn’t have you any other way! Thank you so much for your gracious words and thoughts. Yeah, we’ll never see eye to eye on the “God thing,” except that there IS one, but that’s one of the things what makes life so interesting, man: different points of view…and the ability to intelligently discuss these differences (even waaaay into the deep, dark night, as I recall on an occasion or two…). Thanks, man. I ain’t perfect, but I have you, others like you, and a wonderful woman to help keep me in line and give different perspectives to my own.
I often sigh a “thank you” when a plot problem resolves itself, or I nail a phrase just right on the page. I don’t know whom I’m thanking, exactly. The muses, perhaps? But it doesn’t matter. As you point out, it’s the act of being grateful that helps us realize how very lucky we are.
How, cool, Margaret! It’s neat to see what others do to handle their own situations! Writers spend so much time by themselves, in their own heads, and it’s great to see many of us behave in the same way, whether or not we admit to it! I always maintain: “People are people–no matter what we wear or what language we speak. We all behave (and think) the same!”
Thanks for stopping by!