Yes! Those are great examples. I loved Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang as a kid (the Broadway show isn't bad either) but I could never get my kids into it. They always thought it was too long
Two of my kids will almost always watch old movies with me. One of them wants to be a filmmaker. But my other two rarely have patience for the slow pace of those flicks
I think I’ve gotten really good at avoiding toil. Sometimes I feel guilty that I have a “reverse weekend” schedule at my clinical job. I practice two days per week with five days off for doing all the other things I love. Maybe it’s part of getting older, but the urgency I feel is related to doing original and creative projects, rather than just staying “busy.” Bringing ideas from possibility into reality-- that’s what excites me these days! I guess that often looks like idleness as I’m wandering around the local nature trails. 🌿✨✨
That sounds like a great schedule! I've always had a strong aversion to busywork, but as I get older I also feel more compelled to do my creative work than ever before. Substack has been great for helping me find other people who want more out of life than to toil away at a job until they're completely spent.
Jason, got to weigh in! Always been a bit of a wandering/wondering soul, and you're absolutely right, that is not always viewed positively! But for writing, it's crucial. Ideas can just fall in when you create space. Have a wander-full day!
I’ve never thought about the concept of work vs. toil. You made me think -- I’ll be more mindful of the difference and when toil creeps in. Happy Friday!
I think mindfulness might be a good descriptor of the difference for work and toil for me. I feel work requires a certain presence, where toil is just to keep you from thinking too much.
For me both of the words "work" and "leisure" have the same meanings: to pursue or actively engage in a chosen activity that stimulates our mind, body and spirit more often than not. There is a social safety net. In this view people are essential.
To "toil" is what current capitalism, as envisioned by U.S. Republicans, wants from all of us: a mindless repetition of an imposed activity that wrecks our minds, bodies and spirits in service to the profit of a very few people. There is no social safety net. In this view people are expendable.
Having work and leisure hold the same meaning is beautiful!
I know I'm "supposed" to get more conservative as I age, but I'm getting more radical. I'm still pro-commerce, but I feel like unfettered capitalism has been a massive attack on democracy and the dignity of the non-plutocrat class.
I'm pro-commerce too - just not to the detriment of democracy, decency or basic human dignity!!
And heck yes I'm getting much *much* more radical as I get older!! I'm even proud of having shocked my twenty-something great nephews and nieces at time or two!! 🤣😉
About the only place I'm conservative is that I grasp the handrail, go slow and carefully
when going up or down the stairs nowadays!! Gone are the days of taking stairs two at a time at a running pace...🤣
My father is from a generation that views toiling each day as a virtue and a "honest day's work." I've never seen it that way. I hate toil as well. You need periods of rest and reflection as a writer to recharge your creative energies. Those quiet moments are the moments when you discover the story you want to tell.
My parents (and in-laws) had those same views. It has created a lot of tension in my life. But I’m the only person they know with a creative career and you’re right, it takes periods of rest, fallow time, to do excellent work creative work
I experience the idea of being idle and letting creativity come to me as a fantasy that I can never quite make real. My partner things I'm a fully-fledged workaholic (he's probably right... it's taken me a lot of years and discipline to develop ways to care for myself, as it's easy for me to use work to 'skip out' of my 'difficult feelings' to the detriment of my health. I've hit some pretty bad rock bottoms too).
But. Nowadays. I am a bit better at letting myself take the afternoon off and enjoy the sunshine. Even if it means going back to the home office later in the evening. This in-between works for me... for now!
We all have to find our own balance. I’m needing to get back into doing client work to make ends meet, and I’m approaching things very differently this time around. That includes building lots of time to wander around both physically and mentally
Artists are always working. Some of my best ideas come when I’m on a walk or something. I think another thing to remember that there are a significant percentage of people who essentially think making art isn’t real work and that it’s wasting time because it isn’t “useful.”
You’re dead right. I also think most people have no understanding about of what creative work looks like even when it’s “useful”. I’ve just returned to freelance copywriting so I can have more cash to do art stuff. I write marketing stuff for miss-size businesses, totally “useful” stuff. But my extended family doesn’t get that to do that commercial writing, I still need to do research and think about the project. If I’m up from the keyboard I must not be working.
The U.S culture particularly in the South tends to define "useful" only in terms of how much money was made from the activity. And that's such an arbitrary relative measure as to be almost meaningless. What about air or water or soil or health or love or friendship? None of those are solely big dollar profit makers and there's a lot of "aimless time" required for each of those - so are they still useful?
And yet almost every person who says "art isn't useful" will regularly seek out tickets for music, theater, museum exhibits. They decorate the walls of homes and offices with art. They buy curtains, tablecloths and etc with art patterns on them... They see movies...
Whenever someone says "art isn't useful" to me I ask them what they did last weekend and can easily point out all of the art they engaged with 🤣
Art is so much a part of our lives that many people don't see it - just like we don't notice the air unless it smells particularly good/bad.
One of the best and possibly most ironic directives I’ve ever received came from the CEO of my former corporate job, who, in an all-officer summit meeting (which is making my eyes glaze over just writing about it) told us all to integrate 20 minutes of “thinking” time into our daily calendars.
I’m doing a different kind of work now. The kind I love. And there is a lot of thinking time.
I’m reminded of Dick Van Dyke’s character in Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang and the father from the movie (book, too?) Fly Away Home
Yes! Those are great examples. I loved Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang as a kid (the Broadway show isn't bad either) but I could never get my kids into it. They always thought it was too long
It IS long!!!
Kids these days are used to things moving faster. 😁
Two of my kids will almost always watch old movies with me. One of them wants to be a filmmaker. But my other two rarely have patience for the slow pace of those flicks
I think I’ve gotten really good at avoiding toil. Sometimes I feel guilty that I have a “reverse weekend” schedule at my clinical job. I practice two days per week with five days off for doing all the other things I love. Maybe it’s part of getting older, but the urgency I feel is related to doing original and creative projects, rather than just staying “busy.” Bringing ideas from possibility into reality-- that’s what excites me these days! I guess that often looks like idleness as I’m wandering around the local nature trails. 🌿✨✨
That sounds like a great schedule! I've always had a strong aversion to busywork, but as I get older I also feel more compelled to do my creative work than ever before. Substack has been great for helping me find other people who want more out of life than to toil away at a job until they're completely spent.
Jason, got to weigh in! Always been a bit of a wandering/wondering soul, and you're absolutely right, that is not always viewed positively! But for writing, it's crucial. Ideas can just fall in when you create space. Have a wander-full day!
Thanks! I'm just about to go wander fora bit!
I’ve never thought about the concept of work vs. toil. You made me think -- I’ll be more mindful of the difference and when toil creeps in. Happy Friday!
I think mindfulness might be a good descriptor of the difference for work and toil for me. I feel work requires a certain presence, where toil is just to keep you from thinking too much.
For me both of the words "work" and "leisure" have the same meanings: to pursue or actively engage in a chosen activity that stimulates our mind, body and spirit more often than not. There is a social safety net. In this view people are essential.
To "toil" is what current capitalism, as envisioned by U.S. Republicans, wants from all of us: a mindless repetition of an imposed activity that wrecks our minds, bodies and spirits in service to the profit of a very few people. There is no social safety net. In this view people are expendable.
Having work and leisure hold the same meaning is beautiful!
I know I'm "supposed" to get more conservative as I age, but I'm getting more radical. I'm still pro-commerce, but I feel like unfettered capitalism has been a massive attack on democracy and the dignity of the non-plutocrat class.
I'm pro-commerce too - just not to the detriment of democracy, decency or basic human dignity!!
And heck yes I'm getting much *much* more radical as I get older!! I'm even proud of having shocked my twenty-something great nephews and nieces at time or two!! 🤣😉
About the only place I'm conservative is that I grasp the handrail, go slow and carefully
when going up or down the stairs nowadays!! Gone are the days of taking stairs two at a time at a running pace...🤣
🤣
I love this comment, Sue!
My father is from a generation that views toiling each day as a virtue and a "honest day's work." I've never seen it that way. I hate toil as well. You need periods of rest and reflection as a writer to recharge your creative energies. Those quiet moments are the moments when you discover the story you want to tell.
My parents (and in-laws) had those same views. It has created a lot of tension in my life. But I’m the only person they know with a creative career and you’re right, it takes periods of rest, fallow time, to do excellent work creative work
I experience the idea of being idle and letting creativity come to me as a fantasy that I can never quite make real. My partner things I'm a fully-fledged workaholic (he's probably right... it's taken me a lot of years and discipline to develop ways to care for myself, as it's easy for me to use work to 'skip out' of my 'difficult feelings' to the detriment of my health. I've hit some pretty bad rock bottoms too).
But. Nowadays. I am a bit better at letting myself take the afternoon off and enjoy the sunshine. Even if it means going back to the home office later in the evening. This in-between works for me... for now!
We all have to find our own balance. I’m needing to get back into doing client work to make ends meet, and I’m approaching things very differently this time around. That includes building lots of time to wander around both physically and mentally
There’s an insidious morality that finds its way into working/toiling.
Yes! Many people in my extended family think I’m lazy because they have no idea what I actually do for a living
Artists are always working. Some of my best ideas come when I’m on a walk or something. I think another thing to remember that there are a significant percentage of people who essentially think making art isn’t real work and that it’s wasting time because it isn’t “useful.”
You’re dead right. I also think most people have no understanding about of what creative work looks like even when it’s “useful”. I’ve just returned to freelance copywriting so I can have more cash to do art stuff. I write marketing stuff for miss-size businesses, totally “useful” stuff. But my extended family doesn’t get that to do that commercial writing, I still need to do research and think about the project. If I’m up from the keyboard I must not be working.
Yep. Most people have jobs where you don’t think about it after they “clock out.” So they don’t understand the “homework” involved.
The U.S culture particularly in the South tends to define "useful" only in terms of how much money was made from the activity. And that's such an arbitrary relative measure as to be almost meaningless. What about air or water or soil or health or love or friendship? None of those are solely big dollar profit makers and there's a lot of "aimless time" required for each of those - so are they still useful?
And yet almost every person who says "art isn't useful" will regularly seek out tickets for music, theater, museum exhibits. They decorate the walls of homes and offices with art. They buy curtains, tablecloths and etc with art patterns on them... They see movies...
Whenever someone says "art isn't useful" to me I ask them what they did last weekend and can easily point out all of the art they engaged with 🤣
Art is so much a part of our lives that many people don't see it - just like we don't notice the air unless it smells particularly good/bad.
One of the best and possibly most ironic directives I’ve ever received came from the CEO of my former corporate job, who, in an all-officer summit meeting (which is making my eyes glaze over just writing about it) told us all to integrate 20 minutes of “thinking” time into our daily calendars.
I’m doing a different kind of work now. The kind I love. And there is a lot of thinking time.
20 minutes of thinking seems like a bare minimum 🤣