The Road to Joy is Paved with Struggle

Zach Arias, an editorial photographer in Atlanta, teaches the One Light Workshops and has a lot of insight to share from an honest, unpretentious and realistic point of view.  He posted this video recently as part of an on-going conversation dealing with the internal struggle artists go through to create meaningful work, still make a living, and not give up or burnout.  For every creative individual, this is a point of real tension.  Enter Derrick: a door-to-door salesmen, former felon and unlikely mentor.  Check out the video (it’s a bit long, but well worth it).

Listen to the wisdom Derrick shares; he reveals that what keeps a lot of people down is “insecurity – that’s me believing that I’m insignificant or not important without acceptance or approval from other people and when you’re under that state of mind, it allows you to manipulated by negative influences.”  He goes on to repeat the age-old advice that success comes from “hard work, sacrifice, and discipline.”  But he doesn’t say it with a negative tone of contempt like it’s often been said.  Instead, he speaks from a place of encouragement and hope that is truly inspiring.  Derrick’s interview is a reminder that genuine joy doesn’t come easily.  To reach the real thing, you have to go through struggle to get it.  Otherwise, we may have settled for a subtle superficial substitution.

It reminds me of the Switchfoot song “Happy is a Yuppy Word.”  The title was inspired by a Bob Dylan quote in response to the question posed by Rollingstone Magazine, “Are you truly happy?”  Dylan replied, “Those are yuppie words, happiness and unhappiness. It’s not happiness or unhappiness, it’s blessed or unblessed.”  The implications are one seeks a life free of complications, struggles and obstructions while the other learns to live in harmony with them with a constant positive perseverance.