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“All my life I have tried to find the truth and make it beautiful.” – Sting

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In the Bathroom with David Sedaris

July 31, 2018 by Carolyn Martin Leave a Comment

It happens this way …

I think self-esteem is overrated. I think a certain degree of self-loathing is good. – David Sedaris, “Q&A David Sedaris” by Hugh Delehanty, AARP Bulletin, July/August 2018

Admit it: some of our best reading times occur in the bathroom – in the tub or on the potty. This sanctuary is conducive to getting through magazines that have piled up for weeks. I’ve learned to store the latest in our three bathrooms and enjoy multitasking: nurturing my mind awhile attending to my body.

Hence, my encounter with David Sedaris on a Sunday morning in our powder bathroom. In this interview, Sedaris discusses Calypso, his new book about aging; his sister’s suicide; and his obsession with walking. He also explains how his adversarial relationship with his father motivated him to create a successful career.

He explains:

Everything he ever said to me, I did the opposite. Everything. And I made a nice career out of reacting against him. If he had been my biggest cheerleader, I would be a nobody today. He’d say, “You’re a big fat zero.” But that’s exactly what I needed to hear because I’d think, Oh yeah? I’ll show you!

 That got me thinking about all people who motivated me by putting me down. There’s Sister Grace John, my first grade teacher, who gave me an “Unsatisfactory” in conduct for speaking too much in class. The English teacher who red-penciled the only poem I wrote in high school as “extremely maudlin.” The president of a business consulting firm I worked for who called me “a G-d-damn academic who’d never amount to anything!” Oh yeah?

Of course, I’ve had exquisite cheerleaders in my life when I needed them. But today, here’s to Sedaris’s insight. Let’s say, I’ll show you! to anyone who attempts to diminish the glorious beings we are!

DSC05642
Last line: “Conduct” and that blue U!

Filed Under: It happens this way ..., Posts Tagged With: David Sedaris

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Diane Leahy says

    July 31, 2018 at 9:24 am

    So happy to see you turned that Blue “U” around. That is so funny, you could NOT have all “S”.. something to strive for. Keep up the good work 😀

    Reply
  2. carolynmartinpoet says

    July 31, 2018 at 9:31 am

    Thanks, Diane! When I tell this story to audiences, I add: “Sister Grace John, eat your heart out! People have paid me huge bucks to speak!” I was a management trainer and keynoter for 24 years!

    Reply
  3. Joan Miller says

    July 31, 2018 at 11:24 am

    It reminds me of hearing so many doctors talk about what I WOULDN’T be able to do after my life saving and life changing surgery 20 years ago. WATCH ME I so wanted to say, and now they can but it will be the price of a ticket to hear me!!!

    Reply
    • carolynmartinpoet says

      July 31, 2018 at 11:48 am

      Joan, you are the poster woman for “Yeah. I’ll show you!”

      Reply
  4. ampycom says

    July 31, 2018 at 11:39 am

    Love it! It’s funny… I was about to write something on a similar subject. Here’s a big fat raspberry to all the naysayers… you’re rocking it!

    Reply
  5. carolynmartinpoet says

    July 31, 2018 at 11:49 am

    Raspberries, raspberries, raspberries!

    Reply

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