Elizabeth Gilbert is an author and journalist best known for her memoir “Eat, Pray, Love,” but she also wrote a lesser-known gem of an essay, “In Praise of Stubborn Gladness.” The essay talks about curiosity as a strategy to persevere. She opens with two examples: 1. As Steve Jobs’ passed away, his famous last words were, “Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow.” 2. As a kid visiting her 85-year-old Aunt, her aunt approached her with a big grin and said, “Guess what Liz? I have cancer. Isn’t that interesting?” She connects this mindset back to her work as a writer: “Writing can be a very dramatic pursuit, full of catastrophes and disasters and emotion and attempts that fail...My path as a writer became much more smooth when I learned, when things aren’t going well to regard my struggles as curious, not tragic.” The idea applies well beyond writing. You hedge that curiosity is powerful enough to take priority over negative emotions (like fear). And usually, it is. ___ “A catastrophe is nothing but a puzzle with the volume of drama turned up very high.” —Elizabeth Gilbert ___ P.S. I have to say, at first, I kept reading because Gilbert's examples edge on "toxic positivity." But there’s good research to show that curiosity runs deeper than that. One study that I love to use as an example found that just by describing a day when you felt curious, you can boost your mental and physical energy by 20% more than when you describe a moment of profound happiness. ___
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1dCuriosity is the bridge between where we are now and where we want to be, Evan.