Success as a Writer Only Depends on One Simple Thing
Never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple
“To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never to forget.” ― Arundhati Roy, The Cost of Living
I started to read Arundhati Roy in my 20s. And from an early age, I realized that life would be simpler if I simplified it.
I looked at those boys who received everything from their parents. Those we called rich kids. And I saw a vast emptiness in their eyes. Sooner or later, some came to me because they liked what I had to say to them. My message was more important than the futile discussions on material issues.
Living a life full of good experiences is possibly the wealthiest childhood of all. And I was that kid who was always playing happily in the street. Building my imaginary world and inviting my closest friends to participate in it.
I believe I had a genuine and straightforward youth. My parents gave me a lot of love and balanced education. So, I was happy. I was a pleased kid.
As a young adult, my eyes crossed into Arundhati Roy’s books. She described an extremely poor India. But also an intense country, full of intense colors and scents.
Indian children, in their innocence, could participate in beautiful experiences. And the simplicity of Roy’s descriptions always reminded me of my childhood.
Yet, when we start our adult life, we enter a more complex world. We start complicating things. We go with the flow. The company where we work has complex procedures. Our job shapes us into complexity.
And suddenly, we forget how simple life was. And how simple life still is.
For Things To Get Better, You’ve Got To Get Better
When you become a full-time writer, you start to have more time to reflect on life itself.
You share your life experiences more often, and by doing so, you start to become aware of your life path. Who you were as a child, and how you evolved as an adult. How your professional, loving, spiritual life has been going.
Everything starts to come out. A kind of scale appears, which carefully weighs the weight of your life. Its importance. Your path and your place in this infinite universe.
Sometimes it scares you. Time passed quickly, but you have a portfolio of experiences. That is your real fortune. That is your true treasure. In a way, you feel some affection for your path. Memories reinforce what went best and what went less well.
They help you to understand the type of person you have become.
Patterns start to rise, and you realize that so many things could go better if you simplify them. As Arundhati said:
“Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never to forget.”
Our internal stresses dominate us all. However, we should know it better. If we simplify our lives, stresses disappear.
I’m forty-five years old, and my main focus in the last years was to simplify my life. I only do what makes me happy. I pursue happiness and simple life, as when I was a kid. Somehow, by simplifying my life, I’m getting closer to my youngest innocence.
I firmly believe that my best version was when I was purely innocent. That time was the best version of me.
And that same places will design my future. Yes, now a different man, but looking for the same innocence, the same joy because those were the best days of my life.
For things to get better, you’ve got to get better. Yet, you’ve got to discover the best version of yourself first. Or you’ll be lost.
Final Thoughts
If we close our eyes and deeply force our memory to find those genuine moments of happiness, we’ll be closer to the best version of ourselves.
I have two daughters, and in so many cases, they remind me. I laugh at their simple gestures and the simple actions they do. I did the same things when I was their age. And I love to remember those days, where the time stopped, and everything was magical.
Feeding our childishness brings us back to those simple moments. It’s an exercise I often do. And those moments reward me tremendously with a full heart and rejoice soul. And it makes me approach, foot by foot, to my real self.
To be a successful writer, you have to be a successful, happy person.
Things will be better because you’ll be the best version of yourself.
To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple.- Arundhati Roy
The most straightforward person you’ll intend to be is the genuine you.
So, never complicate what is simple.
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