Hi Fellow Travellers!
Thinking about a line from a book again.
There’s a line in J.R.R. Tolkien’s book The Fellowship of the Ring, the first volume of the Lord of the Ring series, that has stuck with me since I was fourteen.
Bilbo Baggins tells his wizard friend Gandalf, “I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.”
The line is powerful because we have all felt that way at one time or another.
Seth Godin forever changed how I think about this line in a blog post he wrote in 2015. The title of the post frames the key question, “Is it too little butter, or too much bread?”
Seth says:
Spreading our butter too thin is a form of hiding. It helps us be busy, but makes it unlikely we will make an impact.
It turns out that doing a great job with what we've got is the single best way to get a chance to do an even better job with more, next time.
I’m ready to let go of my dead leaves so that winter can come so that spring can follow.
I have decided to let most of my freelance copywriting business die a natural death and fully lean into my indie writing career.
What do you need to release before you can move forward?
Be the weird you want to see in the world!
Cheers,
Jason
P.S. I’m still taking requests for custom haiku. All you have to do is email me at jason@weirdopoetry.com and tell me what you want me to write a haiku about. I will deliver the haiku to you within 24 hours (usually much sooner), along with my PayPal and Venmo links. You can then tip me whatever you want (a guilt-free $0 is a valid option).