The Joy of Quitting

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There is no discernible narrative arc, partly because of how life tends to unfurl in most households anyway, and partly because this is a collection curated from earlier ones: Powdered Milk (2012), Miseryland (2015), Sunburning (2017), Chlorine Gardens (2018), and Rat Time (2019). And so, what we get are snatches of conversation, mind-numbing chores that can’t be avoided, and a bit of happiness bubbling to the surface now and again. I’m compelled to work on this stuff. It’s what drives me. I would, and have for years, do it for free and to an audience as small as my closest friends and family. The joy of quitting lies in the freedom to experiment, evolve, and adapt. It’s about recognizing that life is a series of experiences, each teaching us valuable lessons. Quitting doesn’t mean giving up; it means prioritizing your well-being and happiness. It means giving the chance for other things to open up.

G, my penultimate child, is a 14-year-old freshman. He’s a talented trumpet player. He’s the first chair in the freshman band and his band director wants him to play in every band the high school has. G tried the optional jazz band that meets before school. This required him to get up early. After a few weeks, he asked me if he could quit. The jazz band has a different director than the freshman band, and the jazz band leader is a shouter. G said he doesn’t want to wake up early to get yelled at. Fair enough. La sonrisa congelada. Es inevitable que aparezca con cada nuevo episodio de la vida de Keiler Roberts, narrado con su trazo desgarbado (pero cada vez más cuidado), donde nos cuenta anécdotas del día a día en su hogar, conviviendo con su familia y su enfermedad. De hecho, en esta El placer de la renuncia, Roberts se retrotrae al origen de dos de los pilares de su obra autobiográfica: el diagnóstico de su esclerosis múltiple y el nacimiento de su (siempre hilarante sin esfuerzo alguno) hija Xia.Tras Mi tabla de súplicas e Isolada, Alpha Decay nos trae apenas un año después de su publicación original esta nueva pieza del puzzle vital de Keiler Roberts, donde vuelven a entrecruzarse la ocurrencia y el sinsabor, el chiste malo y la punzada amarga, el humor absurdo y el absurdo existencial, la cínica de lengua afilada y la payasa triste. La mujer, la madre, la esposa, la enferma y la artista. Así, entre gags visuales de una sola viñeta y pequeñas historietas de hasta tres páginas, entre posturas de yoga que también pueden sentirse de lloro y lamento en posición fetal, Roberts vuelve a utilizar el cómic como mecanismo de supervivencia y gestión de las emociones, similar al "diario de agradecimientos imaginarios" que guarda en el baño. Y se nota que esta es su obra más reciente porque, aunque hay viñetas más aparentemente desganadas, otras trabajan la precisión del detalle, nutriendo de contrastes la obra y transmitiendo a través del trazo las mismas sensaciones que pretende trasladarnos con su guion (no hay más que ver al adorable "Mateo 2" apoyado en su carrito de la compra). Except it wasn’t a consistent job. It was a one-time thing I was going to get paid for. Forging my path Above all, let quitting be your passport to personal freedom and to living with integrity. In every aspect of your life, the signal from your inner GPS is always there, always beaming out, always trying to lift you up toward your higher path. Your soul’s path.

It seems to be a common theme on the blog in the past couple of weeks or so to talk about hard things and how to persevere despite the difficulties. And while that’s all well and good, I think it would be a great disservice to only talk about doing the hard things that are worth doing and not the other side of that coin. When to Not Do the Hard Things Mastery: Robert Greene draws on the lives of Martha Graham, Charles Darwin, and others to show how pursuing mastery of the thing we love to do can lead to great things. He loved to tell us that the only people who ever accomplished anything were the ones who persevered. And he was right, sort of. But, I’ve been working hard to correct my generational trauma. Has God asked you to do this hard thing, or is it an expectation you’ve set for yourself? Is God putting this task on your heart, pulling you closer to Him, or are you doing it out of your strength? Are you doing the hard thing simply because it’s hard? Or is there a purpose to it? Roberts possesses this unique ability of holding a mirror to our lives, compelling us to pay a little more attention to what we’re missing out. Her panels are full of little ‘aha!’ moments that stand-up comics deploy so effectively, making us nod in recognition while we giggle despite ourselves. She grapples with deeper questions too, such as mental illness, or the pros and cons of using her daughter’s life and conversation as fodder for her jokes.

The Joy of Quitting

From toddler antics to doctor appointments, Keiler Roberts breathes humour and life into the fleeting present

My advice to anyone who wants to give up, is that you have to WANT to give up. There is little point in putting yourself through it if you don’t really want to. I loved a cigarette and I miss them when I think about them (which isn’t often nowadays, thankfully), but now that I am on the other side of it, I can’t believe the damage I was intentionally doing to myself for something that is not a necessity, very unhealthy, very expensive, very smelly (especially your breath and fingers) and is ultimately a drag on your subconscious. If it’s not practical to quit right away for whatever reason, make a plan to quit. Set a date. Take steps. Prepare the way, making eventual freedom your aim. Multiple people told me to quit. I remember distinctly, Monday night, as I was falling asleep and praying to God, I asked Him what I should do.The author Alan Cohen said, “Integrity is the condition in which the life you are living in the outer world matches who you are in the inner world.” Stressing out about your unfulfilling job is, of course, a pretty privileged problem to have. But, you know what else is a problem? Accepting that the world that capitalism has created is the real world and that it works a certain way, ergo you have to work a certain way. How Will You Measure Your Life?: Clayton Christensen explores how to avoid the unhappiness that often traps high-achievers. Quit any situation where you’re not valued or respected. Quit fighting. Quit struggling. Quit doing things simply to please others. Quit hoarding belongings that no longer serve you. Quit habits that poison your body. Quit anything you do to please others but that drains the very core of your being. A recent study by the London School of Business and Finance found that 47% of professionals in the UK wanted to change job. That figure jumped to 66% among millennials (people aged between 20 and 34). Further, a report found that nearly half of workers in the UK plan to quit their jobs this year.

Amie came to visit Chicago and stayed at our house for the first night we were away. I got to see her just long enough to take a walk. I quit law school because I didn’t want to commit my precious life to fighting other people’s wars in musty courtrooms. I quit a relationship after my partner disrespected my boundaries and cheated on me. And I quit living in England because I didn’t care for what then seemed to be a national attitude of cynicism and small-time thinking. I’m a big proponent of quitting; I do it regularly. I began my quitting career in law, which I sort of found myself in by mistake to begin with. After studying English literature – which is an excellent grounding for a life of perennial disillusionment – I got a job at a corporate law firm because that seemed to be what a lot of people did. They funded a law conversion course and this was followed by a well-paid two-year training contract. It seemed like a no-brainer.Now more people are reading and supporting my poetry and comics than have ever read anything else I’ve ever done. A diary in comics form, Roberts’s book collects snippets from eight years of her daily life, capturing exasperating and hysterical moments of mothering, friendship and more."— New York Times Anyone who’s squinted doubtfully at a parenting manual will relish The Joy of Quitting by Keiler Roberts, which skewers family life with merciless and very funny directness."— Guardian Best Graphic Novels of 2022 If there is a secret to life, I think it might be to keep quitting things until you find something you don’t want to quit. Self-help gurus adore quotes like this, aiming to infuse divine inspiration and discourage quitting. But why shouldn’t we quit things? Why should we set a goal and never deviate from it? The joy of quitting can be exhilarating.