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And Then We Grew Up: On Creativity, Potential, and the Imperfect Art of Adulthood QUOTES

And Then We Grew Up: On Creativity, Potential, and the Imperfect Art of Adulthood QUOTES

1 " It takes grit to persevere, but sometimes it also takes grit to quit, especially when you've wandered pretty far down a path--when you've tied your identity to walking that path in a world where our primary yardstick for measuring success is longevity. [...] It takes courage to quit something you've built your identity around. "

― Rachel Friedman , And Then We Grew Up: On Creativity, Potential, and the Imperfect Art of Adulthood

2 " This is the flip side of the soul-sucking cubicle-dweller jobs we assume are where dreams go to die. All those books aimed at convincing you to go follow your passion are based on the assumption that if you do so, your life will automatically be more fulfilling. But then let's say you become an entrepreneur or hit the road with your band or land a gig writing guidebooks that takes you all over the world. You can still discover that--gasp!--it's not all it's cracked up to be. Being fulfilled is all about the day-to-day details, and if that involves schlepping your instrument from one gig to another in order to cobble together a living, it may be that there is no piece of chamber music beautiful enough to save you from your misery. And then you have to be smart enough to change course instead of clinging to some idea of yourself or the thing you wanted. "

― Rachel Friedman , And Then We Grew Up: On Creativity, Potential, and the Imperfect Art of Adulthood

3 " I had no idea how creative ambition and life balance could coexist, because achieving balance seemed to imply being content, and didn't contentment mean you were no longer "hungry"? And if you lost your hunger, didn't you one day wake up in the suburbs helicopter parenting a couple of kids or working at a soul sucking corporate job? You stopped making art. You stopped being passionate. You stopped being you. "

― Rachel Friedman , And Then We Grew Up: On Creativity, Potential, and the Imperfect Art of Adulthood