For me, as a struggling novelist (what other kind is there?), two items in the recent NY Times “Year In Ideas” feature caught my eye. One said that hopelessness might be better than hope, when it comes to well-being. Apparently, for example, prison inmates who were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole fare better than those who are always thinking that the liberating phone call is right around the corner. Makes sense, really. The other said that perseverance might be bad for you. People who kept trying to achieve a difficult or impossible goal, in this study, had elevated levels of C-reactive protein (bad) compared with those who bailed out on the goal.
Persevering with hopefulness in the face of unbelievably bad odds pretty much describes what I do. Oy.
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