There is a quote by Harry Chapin that I wanted to share. He tells a story about his grandfather, who differentiates between good tired and bad tired. The point is that in order to be good tired, you do not necessarily need to be successful. You may fail, but if you fail at something you care about, something for which you have a passion, you can go to sleep that night happy. I think this is so powerful because we all spend an incredible amount of time on things we do not particularly care about- not because we want to, but because we think we have to. I hear so many of my fellow students profess their disinterest in their classes- about how little they connect to the subject matter or substance. In Harry Chapin’s mind, they are bad tired. Even if they get an A+ in the class, they go to sleep bad tired. Obviously we cannot all drop our required courses for interesting electives, but hopefully this quote can inspire an effort to increase the amount of time we spend on pursuing our own interests, and defying the idea that widespread definition of “success” is the only way to ensure thay when we do finally rest our heads at night, we are good tired.<\/p>\n
“My grandfather was a painter. He died at age 88. He illustrated Robert Frost\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first <\/strong>two books of poetry. And he was looking at me and he said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Harry, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s two <\/strong>kinds of tired. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s <\/strong>good tired<\/em>and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s <\/strong>bad tired.<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/strong><\/p>\n He said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ironically enough, <\/strong>bad tired<\/em> can be a day that you <\/strong>won<\/em>. But you won <\/strong>other people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s battles, you lived other people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s days, other people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s agendas, other <\/strong>people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dreams, and when it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all over there was very little <\/strong>you<\/em> in there. And when <\/strong>you hit the hay at night, somehow you toss and turn, you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t settle easy.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/strong><\/p>\n He said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153<\/strong>Good tired<\/em>, ironically enough, can be a day that you <\/strong>lost<\/em>. But you won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t <\/strong>even have to tell yourself, because you knew you fought your battles, you chased <\/strong>your dreams, you lived your days. And when you hit the hay at night, you settle <\/strong>easy, you sleep the sleep of the just, and you can say, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Take me away.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/strong><\/p>\n He said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Harry, all my life I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve wanted to be a painter and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve painted. God, I <\/strong>would have loved to have been more successful, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve painted, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve painted, <\/strong>and I am <\/strong>good tired<\/em>, and they can take me away.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/strong><\/p>\n Now if there is a process in your and my lives in the insecurity that we have about <\/strong>a prior life or an afterlife, and God (I hope there is a god – if he does exist, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got <\/strong>a rather weird sense of humour however)\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/strong><\/p>\n But if there is a process that will allow us to live our days, that will allow us that <\/strong>degree of equanimity towards the end, looking at that black implacable wall of <\/strong>death to allow us that degree of peace, that degree of non-fear, I want in.”<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u201dHarry Chapin<\/p>\n