Wendell Berry on happiness and creativity

There was a great interview in The Sun Magazine with Wendell Berry a couple of months ago. I didn't know much about him, but the more I read the more I enjoyed what he had to say. Then I came across this exchange and realized how right Berry was:

Fearnside: For me, as for many people, being a writer means getting up early in the morning — sometimes when it’s dark — writing as much as possible, and then going out and working a full-time job. I’m content with this, knowing that I’m doing my best under the circumstances, and I define myself as a writer even though I’m not writing full time or earning my living from it.

Berry: That’s good, but you need to realize something else: that you can lead a perfectly good and satisfactory life even if you’re not a writer. When I figured out that I could be perfectly happy and not be a writer, I became a better writer.

Fearnside: But you never gave up writing.

Berry: No, but I don’t think you ought to let your happiness depend on writing. There are a lot of worthwhile things you can do. The unhappiest people in the world may be the ones who think their happiness depends on artistic success of some kind.

How many people (besides me) put all their creative eggs in one basket? If the book/movie/album/whatever doesn't happen, then nothing matters.

When I limit how I interpret creative success, I usually struggle to be creative. That's not to say I don't have goals — I just try to stay open to other goals that might present themselves along the way.