My co-worker Pauline shared this poem from Mary Oliver, and it hit me hard. Truly beautiful.

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting—over and over announcing your place in the family of things.

“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’” —Issac Asimov

The trick is, how do I bring how I’m naturally funny and myself to an unusual situation, aka on stage. —Heavily paraphrased from Conan O’Brian

What would you write if you weren’t afraid?—Mary Karr

The opposite of play isn’t work; it’s depression.—Stuart Brown

If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.—Albert Einstein

Each time you write a page, you are a writer. Each time you practice the violin, you are a musician. Each time you start a workout, you are an athlete. Each time you encourage your employees, you are a leader.—Atomic Habits

Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly. That’s why it’s so hard.—David McCullough

We love to buy books because we believe we’re buying the time to read them.—Warren Zevon

“To be profound is to fancifully state the obvious. “ - Arthur C. Hubbins III #quotes

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“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.”

#douglasadams

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