I grew up when people seemed actually to be hurting themselves for their art. Of course, some of it was phony.
My grandmother had six kids - one died as an infant - and she was dirt-poor, and all her kids got an education. And my mom grew up poor. And they both worked so hard and cultivated so much of their own happiness. I wanted to have that like an amulet. Not like armor, but like a magic feather. Like Du
I don't think you can come into your wisdom until you have made mistakes on your own skin and felt them in reality of your own life.