Ambitious Mondays: Hunter S. Thompson edition
I’ve been a huge fan of Hunter S. Thompson, since I was about 14, first reading his book, The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales from a Strange Time. I love his humor, his honesty, his intelligence, and his general joie de vivre. He committed suicide in 2005, and I still mourn that crazy mofo.
I’m thinking about Hunter today, because it’s Monday, the start of another work week. Mondays, for many of us, signify the beginning of another miserable week of our own insecurities and fears keeping us in less-than-ideal situations. We live in a society obsessed with an almost masturbatory notion of success: so much pressure to be successful, coupled with tremendous disdain for the hard work necessary to create that success, and weighted down by so much panic at the idea of failure. And yet, mistakes lead us to success. People still treat failure like it’s a sexually transmitted disease; they’d rather remain trapped doing something they loathe, instead of venturing outside their (un)comfort zone and doing the hard yet liberating work that eventually, allows people to experience things they really enjoy.
One reason I love Hunter S. Thompson is that he was never afraid to revel in his mistakes. In his great Paris Review interview (Hunter S. Thompson’s Paris Review interview) Thompson talks about writing The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved, for Scanlan’s. That article would go on to create a groundbreaking form of journalism known as “Gonzo Journalism,” and change the nature of journalism…but at the time, Hunter was simply blocked and terrified, convinced that his career as a writer was over.
His illustrator, Ralph Steadman, had already finished his assignment, and Hunter could barely even get started. He was exhausted, frustrated and overwhelmed. Finally, in desperation, he ripped out pages of rough notes from his notebook and faxed them off to his editors, convinced that he’d be fired. Instead, his editors loved it, and the finished article went on to create such a firestorm of interest, that Hunter started getting opportunities to write that previously would have seemed impossible. You could say he was lucky, but I think his obvious talent won the day.
I’m just reminding you that if you feel like the only foundation in your life currently is the rock-bottom foundation of your (discarded) dreams…okay, have your pity party, get it out of your system, and then realize how many people have used that very same rock-bottom foundation to rebuild their lives into something great. Everyone’s journey is different, and instead of comparing your experience to other’s, instead of articulating to yourself all the reasons you’re doomed to fail…well, you could also simply grit your teeth and commit to all that makes your journey unique.
Here’s a photo of a very young Hunter S. Thompson.
