“Sleep and I do not have a good relationship.”
That probably sounds like a direct quote from an earlier post here or my Twitter feed, but is actually a quote from Amy Poehler’s book “Yes Please.”
She is a far busier person than I am with a million more responsibilities in life. At bedtime though, our brains do the exact same thing.
“As soon as I become prone, my head will begin to unpack,” Poehler writes. “My mind will turn on and start to hum, which is the opposite of what you need when you begin to switch off. It is as if I were waiting the whole day for this moment.”
My mind is most guilty of this on the opposite end of the cycle, when I wake up before I intend to, particularly on the weekends. It starts rolling through all the things I could be doing, and if one of them is something like writing, it will start actually doing the task mentally to the point that I have no real choice but to get up and write it down. (See: blog post, this one)
No amount of “shut uuuuup and sleeeep” can halt this process. But at least it makes me productive. Yeah, let’s put that as a never-sleep-until-noon silver lining.
What’s great about this book, like Mindy Kaling’s “Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me” is that it is the type of behind the scenes look into the life of a fabulously successful creative person that I really enjoy reading. I’m not on their level, but knowing that we go through some of the same challenges and thought processes is comforting. Seeing how their hard work on things that started very small is inspirational.
One such section goes in depth with her show Parks and Recreation, with the help of creator/writer Mike Schur. They talk about what drew them to the show and the way they approached their characters that made them special. She ends with a piece about each of the show’s stars in the rare opportunity people take to say amazing things about how they feel about their friends. It’s nice to see a reminder that famous people appreciate the kickass people in their life too.
If you want to watch that kind of thing play out, the cast appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers the night of their series finale and toasted one another. Here’s part one, and part two of that.
Poehler shares a lot of interesting tidbits from her career, but it’s always funny to see the things that didn’t work out for one reason or another. She talks about a particular TV failure before Parks & Rec came along.
“Years before, I had worked on a single-camera pilot called North Hollywood, which was also not picked up to series,” Poehler writes. “Though looking back, it made sense that the show didn’t go — it starred a bunch of losers named Kevin Hart, Jason Segel, and January Jones and was produced by the obviously talentless Judd Apatow.”
Where is our network of failed TV pilots? Imagine one single episode after another of projects like that.
Throughout the book she also provides a lot of insight, including her take on the adage that the only thing for certain in life is change.
“Your ability to navigate and tolerate change and its painful uncomfortableness directly correlates to your happiness and general well-being,” she writes. “If you can surf your life rather than plant your feet, you will be happier.”
Surf on, my friends.