How do you feel at the end of each day when you get into bed? How do you feel about how you spent your day? I think the sense of exhaustion that comes when a creative person has completed their task well is “good tired”.
Harry Chapin, the late singer and songwriter once shared some thoughts from his grandfather on this subject. You can find the original recording on the Gold Medal Collection
“My grandfather was a painter. He died at age 88. He illustrated Robert Frost’s first two books of poetry. He was looking at me one day and he said, `Harry, there’s two kinds of tired. There’s good tired and there’s bad-tired. Ironically enough, bad-tired can be a day in which you won, but you won other people’s battles, you lived other people’s days, other people’s agendas and dreams, and when it’s all over, there’s very little you in there, and when you hit the hay at night, you toss and turn, you don’t settle easy.
Good tired, ironically enough, can be a day in which you lost, but you knew you fought your battles, you chased your dreams, you lived your days. And when you hit the hay at night, you settle easy, you sleep the sleep of the just, and you can say, “Take me away.”
Harry, all my life I wanted to be a painter. So I painted. God, I would have loved to have been more successful. But I painted and painted. And I am good tired, and they can take me away.”
August 16, 2008 at 12:00 am |
Hey! Came across your blog through a Friendfeed update – like this post! Quite true about the “good-tired and bad-tired” – thanks for sharing!
January 31, 2009 at 10:03 pm |
What a great post. Lately I’ve had so many good tired days I’ve forgotten about the bad ones. Funny how the wisdom of our elders unfolds just when we need to see or hear it.
Thanks again, I’ll be checking in from time to time.
Have a wonderful Sunday
Doug