I attended a writer's workshop up in the Berkshires a few weeks ago. I spent five days at Kripalu, a retreat center just outside of Stockbridge, MA, getting inspired to write that great American novel that so far has eluded me since retiring in 2009. Actually, I'm not a novelist--I discovered that--but I am a writer. Someone specifically told me that as I was walking the labyrinth one morning before our session for the day had begun.
I went to class that day feeling like I really belonged there and that, when I returned home, my writing life would begin in earnest. And it has. Oh, I don't mean that you can expect to find me on the New York Times best-seller list or to see one of my books on display in Barnes and Noble. If either of that happens, I would certainly have no objection. However, one of the things that I discovered at the workshop is that being a writer takes many forms from simply keeping up a personal journal to the writing of that great American novel I mentioned earlier, and that it's all legitimate. In other words, if someone asks me from now on what I do, I can honestly say, "I'm a writer," and leave it at that.
That, of course, is a bit misleading. If I gave that answer to someone who asked me that, in their minds they might think of me much more highly than they ought to think. Yet, I do write a sermon every week; I do keep a journal; and I am working on a book, which may or may not eventually materialize. The point is, though, that it matters what we think of ourselves as to what we actually make of our lives.
I learned that to some degree when I retired. Identifying yourself as a retiree can lead you to minimize your existence to sitting around watching a lot of TV or just sitting around. I didn't do either of those things, but I did start to wonder if I should somehow be giving up anything that resembled work-like responsibilities. In my case, I actually became semi-retired rather than fully retired, taking on a part-time appointment to a small church. I think that that was a smart move.
But whether we're talking about identifying yourself as retired or as someone who's not very creative or as someone who is not very healthy, what you think of yourself pretty much determines how your life will be. "Retired" may not be a good choice of words; "not very creative" may not be a good way to discover new things you can do; "not healthy" may be a mindset that is responsible for never feeling well. All of those kinds of self-images are very limiting to our personal well-being.
Oh, that reminds me: remember at the beginning I said that I was not a novelist? Today I begin to change my self-image because last night I had a dream about having written the great American novel. You might be able to find a copy of it in Barnes and Noble by next year. Just sort of kidding, but who knows what any of us are capable of if we just think more highly of ourselves than we might otherwise be inclined to do.
This evoked such strong feelings of familiarity for me, Jack. (Even before you got into the am-I-or-am-I-not-a-writer questions -- just mentioning Stockbridge and the Berkshires set off all sorts of bells in my head!) A FIVE-DAY workshop sounds like heaven!
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be an entire class of people: natural-born writers who've just never (and for whatever reasons) produced, like, a book. The number and variety of obstacles are so great that it's a wonder anyone ever does write a book, let alone publishes it, let alone publishes it and succeeds. Pretty much everything has to go right, accidentally or by intention as the case may be... and when you factor in that so much of what can go "wrong" is outside the would-be writer's control, it's a wonder that anyone ever even dreams of doing it.
That people do dream of becoming writers is a real testament to the power of language. (If you tried to pin me down about the nature of God, I'd probably point to the whatever-it-is that language carries and say, "There. He's there.")