Don’t Try:
Don’t Try.
The philosophy of Charles Bukowski.
One of America’s great literary voices of the 20th century.
A man who wrote for decades with no acclaim.
But whose words live on in history.
He wrote for decades with no fanfare.
Yet he continued.
He persisted.
He went all the way.
He wrote this poem called ‘Roll The Dice.’
I’m copying it below as it’s something everyone should hear.
if you’re going to try, go all the
way.
otherwise, don’t even start.
if you’re going to try, go all the
way. this could mean losing girlfriends,
wives, relatives, jobs and
maybe your mind.
go all the way.
it could mean not eating for 3 or
4 days.
it could mean freezing on a
park bench.
it could mean jail,
it could mean derision,
mockery,
isolation.
isolation is the gift,
all the others are a test of your
endurance, of
how much you really want to
do it.
and you’ll do it
despite rejection and the
worst odds
and it will be better than
anything else
you can imagine.
if you’re going to try,
go all the way.
there is no other feeling like
that.
you will be alone with the
gods
and the nights will flame with
fire.
do it, do it, do it.
do it.
all the way
all the way.
you will ride life straight to
perfect laughter,
it’s the only good fight
there is.’
Beautiful.
You must go all the way.
In anything you do.
Like the Four Agreements mentions, always do your best.
In any circumstance, always do your best.
But your best changes depending on the circumstance.
Sometimes you have to put all your energy into it.
Other times it flows out of you.
Here’s the key question.
What is it that you’re compelled to do?
What feeling or action makes you feel alive?
The one where you’d feel worse not doing it than having done it in the first place.
For me, that’s writing.
I will write till I die.
All the time.
Whether I achieve the success I want in my lifetime is not up to me.
But I know I will get it.
I know the years of work will pay off.
They already have.
What started as an experiment to write for myself has turned into something completely different.
Now I don’t try.
I let ideas come out as they do.
Maybe they’ll suck.
Maybe they’ll be great.
I don’t know.
All I can do is show up and keep moving.
I’m trying.
And I’m going all the way.
As Charles Bukowski would say, find the thing that makes you not try.
Don’t try.
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