Ross Douthat Quotes

I think having pointers and having guidance from mentors is very important, but it never actually embodies what you go through. And if something doesn't feel good, why do you repeat it? If you feel good bemoaning an audition for a week, go for it. But if you feel better bemoaning an audition that didn't go very well for 30 minutes because you believe in the craft and the process, then I suggest you do that. And that's what I suggest to myself. The alternative is way too painful and destructive.

Unhappiness is something we are never taught about; we are taught to expect happiness, but never a Plan B to use to use when the happiness doesn't arrive.

Whenever I'm having a bad day and have an attitude, I stay home. I keep it at home.

At first, when I got bad press and people would talk bad about my family or something like that, I would get really upset, but now it's just not worth my energy.

I think there's a danger, for me at least, in retreating and going inward and depression. I have to stay diligent against that tendency.

I don't feel my best right now, but at the same time, I'm not trying to find any excuses or anything.

I get frustrated but never depressed.

What I work hardest at is just trying to not let things get me crazy.

You only have so much emotional energy each day. Don't fight battles that don't matter.

If you don't feel good about something, you don't shake it off easily.

If I had a nervous breakdown every time something awful happened in the world, I'd be crazier than a shithouse rat.

If you're having a bad day the main thing on the mental side is realizing that I'm having a bad day and thinking about why and then just kind of re-prioritizing and saying, "I'm going to let myself have this bad day, but tomorrow I'm going to get back on track." That's pretty much it. We all have them. You do have to let yourself have them and then go within and figure out why you're having it and prevent it from happening again.

Don't plant your bad days. They grow into weeks. The weeks grow into months. Before you know it, you got yourself a bad year. Take it from me - choke those little bad days. Choke 'em down to nothing.

This is about all the bad days in the world. I used to have some little bad days, and I kept them in a little box. And one day, I threw them out into the yard. "Oh, it's just a couple little innocent bad days." Well, we had a big rain. I don't know what it was growing in but I think we used to put eggshells out there and coffee grounds, too. Don't plant your bad days. They grow into weeks. The weeks grow into months. Before you know it you got yourself a bad year. Take it from me. Choke those little bad days. Choke 'em down to nothin'. They're your days. Choke 'em!

Why am I so soft in the middle when the rest of my life is so hard?

From 1994 to 1997, I did nothing. I slept and slept and slept. If I was awake, I had to deal with things, I had to do things. In order to avoid that, I would just stay in bed.

I think the smartest thing for people to do to manage very distressing emotions is to take a medication if it helps, but don't do only that. You also need to train your mind.

Self-hatred is OK. I have self-hatred, too. It's OK. What's bad is if you don't know how to get out of it, don't know how to manage it. Self-hatred is, in fact, a good thing if you can clearly see the mechanism of it, because it helps you to understand others.

I switch on and off very easily; I'm inherently lucky in that sense. I sleep well.

I try to keep away exterior events that are going to make me do something negative internally to myself.

It is typical of women to fester and ferment over disappointments, slights, annoyances, angers, etc.

Most of one's life is one prolonged effort to prevent oneself thinking.

I'm not looking for pity, I'm really not, but I'm constantly uneasy and every day it is pretty much like getting up and going to war. Once I shift into the mindset of 'Yeah, you're alive. It's tough. Let's do what we can today,' it's easier.

I'm not sure that the benefit - as a writer and as a citizen - that I would get from reading at least the front page of the Times every day or every other day would outweigh the depression.