I got a copy of Tim Ferris’ new book, “Tools of Titans”, for Christmas, and one of the things that he mentioned that many of the people he’d interviewed in the book recommended was this speech by Neil Gaiman.

Art is hard, I guess.

That’s true, right?

Art must be hard.

I work for the Post Office now….driving a rural route….and I’m so very thankful that I have the opportunity to make a living and keep my family relatively financially stable.

That’s a real blessing to have that job.

It’s a perfect job, too….short periods of indirect supervision followed by a longer period of driving around and listening to the radio, putting mail in black boxes along the way, running packages to porches, talking to dogs….talking to people…..every day.

Every…..single….day.  46+ hours a week.

That’s a lot of life to trade for “making a living”.

I couldn’t ask for better, really.

Still, I chafe.

I chafe at the reins because, maybe, it isn’t “art”, whatever that means.

I’m not willing (or brave enough) to sacrifice my families stability for some dream that I didn’t work at developing before I was married and we had our children.

Maybe it’s just something else to complain about? Maybe the perceived loss of freedom is something that I’d be too scared or too lazy to act on….if I had the freedom to do it?

If I haven’t done it already, what makes me think that I’d do it if I wasn’t employed?

Good grief, though….there is something pretty enticing and noble about creating art.

It’s the thing that’s just beyond the tether….just out of reach of the junk yard dog….stretched to the limit, reaching….knowing that he’ll never taste what can’t be attained because of the thing that’s “holding him back”….that looks like the best thing he’ll never have.

My life is good….what more could I want?

Everything good.

That’s what I want…everything good.

Even if everything I have is pretty great….I want more …and better of it.

That’s pretty wacky, huh?