Have you ever thought that my real life has not begun yet?

“Have You Ever Thought That Your Real Life Hasn’t Begun Yet?”

One day, toward the end of a conversation I was having with the painter David Salle in his studio, on White Street, he looked at me and said, “Has this every happened to you? Have you ever thought that your real life hasn’t begun yet?”
“I think I know what you mean.”
“You know–soon. Soon you’ll start your real life.”
–Janet Malcolm, “Forty-One False Starts,” in Forty-One False Starts: Essays on Artists and Writers
I know this feeling very well. I wrote about it, which I try to fight with the reminder that “Now is now,” in the last chapter of Happier at Home.
How about you? Do you ever feel that your “real life” hasn’t yet begun?

Also ...

• Are you interested in launching a group for people doing happiness projects together? These groups have sprung up all over the world, and one of my favorite things on my book tour was to meet some of the groups. Intrigued? Email me, and I'll send you the "starter kit." Read more here.