Happy People Are Annoying
As a mom of two young kids in the early 2000’s, I was well acquainted with Nickelodeon programming, and two of my kids’ favorite shows were The Amanda Show and Drake & Josh, both of which featured a charming, whipsmart funny young teenager named Josh Peck.
Perhaps you’re saying … who?
You may have seen him over the following years in movies like The Wackness or Mean Creek, newer TV shows like Grandfathered, Turner & Hooch and How I Met Your Father or heard his voice acting in The Ice Age movies and other animated features. Maybe you’ve never heard of him at all - no matter. With the perfect blend of humility and self-effacing humor, Peck offers the wisdom he’s gleaned from the successes and failures of his life.
Now, I can almost hear the collective groan from everyone … oh, there goes yet ANOTHER former child actor telling their sad tale of the pitfalls of celebrity, their spiral into drugs and alcohol, and the closed doors that come when you’re no longer the cute, funny kid on TV, so why should I listen to him? Here’s why:
Some people take the things that happen to them, grow from it and share the lessons in a way that benefits others, and others just use the attention to make sure the world knows how hard they had it. He chose the former, and I think he has a lot of worthwhile insight to share.
Did he get dealt a difficult hand? Yes. He was the product of a singular dalliance between his mom and a married co-worker, who upon learning about his son, wanted nothing to do with him - a trauma that would haunt him and his self-image for years. His mom struggled to make ends meet and their lives had little stability. He used food as comfort and was nearly 300 pounds when he began his career in front of the camera. One thing he did have, though? Talent. That talent has carried Peck through many ups and downs in his personal life and career, and it’s also enabled him to do one particular thing spectacularly:
Pivot. Verb: to completely change the way in which one does something. (Oxford Dictionary)
This guy knows how to pivot. He pivoted when he chose to lose weight and many fans were upset, when his two highly regarded movie performances didn’t translate into more high caliber roles, when he sought help for the self-destructive substance abuse that almost derailed his career and life, when his later TV shows got canceled and he successfully jumped into the early days of social media to support his family, when he realized his self-worth was too tied up in acting and he needed to let it go, and when he re-discovered the joy of acting simply for the love of it.
He also took this bit of advice from Sir Ben Kingsley, his co-star in The Wackness:
Find your apostles.
These are the people who will speak truth into your life, even when you don’t want to hear it. The people in your life worth listening to. Peck found those people in his mom, wife, trusted friends, and AA sponsors, turned his life around and started pursuing the things he loved without tying it to his sense of self-worth. It’s a candid, thoughtful examination of his life thus far and offers hope to anyone on the journey away from self-loathing and into self respect. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Peck himself and despite some heavier topics, his humor and good-natured personality shines. I don’t usually read memoirs, but this is one I can highly recommend!
★★★★ ½
Thanks to my library and Libby for this loan.
Perhaps you’re saying … who?
You may have seen him over the following years in movies like The Wackness or Mean Creek, newer TV shows like Grandfathered, Turner & Hooch and How I Met Your Father or heard his voice acting in The Ice Age movies and other animated features. Maybe you’ve never heard of him at all - no matter. With the perfect blend of humility and self-effacing humor, Peck offers the wisdom he’s gleaned from the successes and failures of his life.
Now, I can almost hear the collective groan from everyone … oh, there goes yet ANOTHER former child actor telling their sad tale of the pitfalls of celebrity, their spiral into drugs and alcohol, and the closed doors that come when you’re no longer the cute, funny kid on TV, so why should I listen to him? Here’s why:
Some people take the things that happen to them, grow from it and share the lessons in a way that benefits others, and others just use the attention to make sure the world knows how hard they had it. He chose the former, and I think he has a lot of worthwhile insight to share.
Did he get dealt a difficult hand? Yes. He was the product of a singular dalliance between his mom and a married co-worker, who upon learning about his son, wanted nothing to do with him - a trauma that would haunt him and his self-image for years. His mom struggled to make ends meet and their lives had little stability. He used food as comfort and was nearly 300 pounds when he began his career in front of the camera. One thing he did have, though? Talent. That talent has carried Peck through many ups and downs in his personal life and career, and it’s also enabled him to do one particular thing spectacularly:
Pivot. Verb: to completely change the way in which one does something. (Oxford Dictionary)
This guy knows how to pivot. He pivoted when he chose to lose weight and many fans were upset, when his two highly regarded movie performances didn’t translate into more high caliber roles, when he sought help for the self-destructive substance abuse that almost derailed his career and life, when his later TV shows got canceled and he successfully jumped into the early days of social media to support his family, when he realized his self-worth was too tied up in acting and he needed to let it go, and when he re-discovered the joy of acting simply for the love of it.
He also took this bit of advice from Sir Ben Kingsley, his co-star in The Wackness:
Find your apostles.
These are the people who will speak truth into your life, even when you don’t want to hear it. The people in your life worth listening to. Peck found those people in his mom, wife, trusted friends, and AA sponsors, turned his life around and started pursuing the things he loved without tying it to his sense of self-worth. It’s a candid, thoughtful examination of his life thus far and offers hope to anyone on the journey away from self-loathing and into self respect. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Peck himself and despite some heavier topics, his humor and good-natured personality shines. I don’t usually read memoirs, but this is one I can highly recommend!
★★★★ ½
Thanks to my library and Libby for this loan.
Comments
Post a Comment