Stories of great men, apocryphal or otherwise, depict them as being singularly committed to their goals. Lest we create idols of them, however, the story then changes to their support system, typically their wives. In these stories, the wives are constantly grounding them in reality, asking them to relax for a moment, which then allows them greater perspective and leads to their greatest breakthroughs.<\/p>\n
Similarly, when I entrench myself in my work, my satisfaction increases. I cannot equate myself with these great men, because I allow myself distraction too frequently. Validation arrives too late in the case of work, which kills my spirit in the form of impatience. When people want release from their obligations, I cannot understand it. If one cares enough to commit themselves to the completion of a work, then how can one take any satisfaction in the release from the pursuit of its completion, if not perfection? Late nights, frustration, starvation, weight gain, loss of friendship: any of these casualties become necessary under the burden of creation, because what else even exists?<\/p>\n
Supporting characters obviously earn their place in history, but if I must ascend to feel worthy… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Stories of great men, apocryphal or otherwise, depict them as being singularly committed to their goals. Lest we create idols of them, however, the story then changes to their support system, typically their wives. In these stories, the wives are constantly grounding them in reality, asking them to relax for a moment, which then allows […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p73iP8-KP","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":970,"url":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=970","url_meta":{"origin":2903,"position":0},"title":"Bloodless (edited for publishing)","date":"4\/13\/2009","format":false,"excerpt":"This was originally published on 2-29-09 (Leap Day); I edited some of the specifics down, but I think it's fairly poetic, if tainted with my maudlin style. -- The shower has always been a place of meditation for me. While my hippie leanings tell me I'm using too much water,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Poetry"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133,"url":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=133","url_meta":{"origin":2903,"position":1},"title":"How to vacation without even trying.","date":"5\/13\/2004","format":false,"excerpt":"People to whom I owe apologies and who will likely never be as close to me as they once were (in no particular order): Don't read 'em*; I'm just purging. * - Well, if you want. They're not funny and might not be interesting.** ** - scratch that: they are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Self-service"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2798,"url":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=2798","url_meta":{"origin":2903,"position":2},"title":"Your Daily Digest: Grating","date":"12\/23\/2015","format":false,"excerpt":"My cousin Matthew is making a video\u00c2\u00a0for my grandmother for Christmas. The concept is that we each spend 30 seconds or so talking about what Christmas means to us. It's our first year without Grandpa, but I don't know how many of us want or need a reminder of that.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ennui"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":331,"url":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=331","url_meta":{"origin":2903,"position":3},"title":"“Write Post,” say you WordPress? I shall.","date":"6\/17\/2005","format":false,"excerpt":"After reading a few other blogs, whose authors possess more discipline and skill than I likely retain, I came to a small - very small - epiphany. Part of my inability to make myself write when I want and how I want springs from what I would politely label efficiency,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Self-service"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2867,"url":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=2867","url_meta":{"origin":2903,"position":4},"title":"For what am I grateful?","date":"3\/22\/2016","format":false,"excerpt":"She said \u00e2\u20ac\u201d to her, but I heard it \u00e2\u20ac\u201d \"Some people would love to have to make that choice.\" Deflections followed, the necessary defense. Who would want their problems diminished? We are our problems. I am, I know. They say you cannot prove a negative, but I am proof.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ennui"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":879,"url":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=879","url_meta":{"origin":2903,"position":5},"title":"On moving on.","date":"10\/20\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"If I said, \"This may not last for long.\" If I said, \"I have my doubts.\" If I said I've lost myself within I want to search without If I left and you were wounded If I had to say goodbye If I made the choice to live for me\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Poetry"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2903"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2903"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2904,"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2903\/revisions\/2904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}