Turning Pro

When we do the work for itself alone, our pursuit of a career (or a living or fame or wealth or notoriety) turns into something else, something loftier and nobler, which we may never even have thought about or aspired to at the beginning.

It turns into a practice

“refine your skills to support your instincts.”

Sometimes it’s easier to be a professional in a shadow career than it is to turn pro in our real calling

Our lives are entirely up to us.

That gang or posse that we imagine is sustaining us by the bonds we share is in fact a conglomeration of individuals who are just as fucked up as we are and just as terrified.

The addict seeks to escape the pain of being human in one of two ways—by transcending it or by anesthetizing it.

It’s the condition of being suspended between two worlds and being unable to fully enter into either

The artist and the addict both wrestle with this experience of exile.

Becoming a pro, in the end, is nothing grander than growing up

If you’re dissatisfied with your current life, ask yourself what your current life is a metaphor for