Trying to figure out how to be successful is like trying to rescue a cat from a high tree.
Just when we think we’ve got him cornered, the darn thing climbs a little higher, wedges himself between two awkward branches, or worst of all…decides to jump! And suddenly, here we are, literally trying to find a net to break the fall because we know—it’s inevitable—we’re getting back in that tree. There’s always another cat to save.
Ruth Reichl, memoirist and former editor of Gourmet Magazine, knows a lot about success..and failure.
In 2009, Ruth Reichl’s editorship at Gourmet Magazine ended both abruptly and unexpectedly. Reichl was devastated, The end was immediate; even the Christmas issue, already ready to go, was casually tossed aside. But instead of going home and drowning her sorrows, she hit the road on the new Gourmet Today cookbook press tour. Of that time, Reichl recalls, “I really thought I would never get another job.”
Before becoming editor at Gourmet, she had been the food critic for both the L.A. Times and the New York Times, and she had already written the bestselling memoir, Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise.
Did she really think she couldn’t get another job?
But that’s what disappointment does to us.
It convinces us of the lie that we’re not good enough, have never been good enough, and certainly won’t ever be good enough to do anything well ever again. We might has well just quit.
Isn’t that what everybody wants us to do anyway?
Every time I sit down at the computer, I feel like I don’t have anything to say. Or I feel like there’s somebody else out there who has already said all the words. Not only that, these other writers who have already said all the words have already said those words better than me.
But I also know that every time I sit down at the computer to write, I am writing with my unique voice. And maybe I’m saying something in a new way or in a way that allows someone to understand an old idea in a different way.
Words became a part of me before I ever realized what they could do, tracing out letters like “C-A-T” and “M-A-T” with my index finger before I ever tried to write one of my own.
But it was in the third grade that I knew I had found my true love.
While other kids were playing tetherball and four-square, made friendship pins, and asked the Magic 8 Ball all their most interesting questions, I was practicing words with my trusty Speak and Spell and playing make-believe with characters that lived in my head, not my class.
My favorite subject was reading. And when the teacher divided us into groups, I wasn’t at all surprised to find myself in the E.T.’s It was 1983, and E.T. was the most popular movie in theaters, so we dubbed ourselves the E.T.’s—The Extra Terrific Reading Group. It was pretentious, we knew, but darned if we cared—WE WERE EXTRA TERRIFIC!
The Extra Terrific Reading Group actually had a lot to do with how I consume books now.
That early start formed the foundation of my education—not only in school but in life. I read books because more than anything I loved to learn.
In the last few months, I have stockpiled all kinds of books: classics from my years studying 18th century literature, youth fiction, children’s books, memoirs, accounts of social justice, Christian living, and even books on community revitalization (I promise it’s a lot more interesting than it sounds).
But while many might scoff at my varied book choices, each and every one helps shape the way I think about the world and the people in it. The books have helped me discover new hobbies and have given me a voice for a wide range of topics—some of which have become stepping stones for opportunities I never would have otherwise had.
When Gourmet Magazine told Reichl it was over, she immediately began work on My Kitchen Year: 136 Recipes that Saved My Life: A Cookbook. It’s actually only part cookbook. At 352 pages, it’s mostly memoir.
Why did she write a book when she thought she was finished as both an editor and an expert in cooking?
Because we all have that thing we do that makes us who we are. It’s the thing that can’t be squashed, no matter the failure.
And Ruth Reichl wasn’t finished.
In fact, she took her own advice:
“I’d learned an important lesson: When something frightens me, it is definitely worth doing.”
Reichl eventually wrote six more books, including my favorite, Tender at the Bone and her most recent, Save Me the Plums, which chronicles her decade-long career at Gourmet.
My favorite quote from that book is:
“The best antidote for sadness, I have always believed, is tackling something that you don’t know how to do.”
I don’t know what I’m doing much of the time. I’m often frustrated, confused, irritated, dumbfounded, and exhausted.
But I’m not sad.
Learning always brings me joy.
And when it comes to learning, I always start with books.
In periods of deep sadness, what do you turn to to bring you comfort? Is there something you don’t know how to do that you’d like to learn? What’s your first step in figuring how to do it?
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What I’m reading:
The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton
Following Jesus by Henri J.M. Nouwen
Call of the Wild by Jack London
Between the World and Me by Ta -Nehist Coates
Ida B. by Katherine Hannigan