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Why people do things that are unpleasantly hard
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Runners at the Tokyo Marathon 2025 on March 2. What compels someone to do something that regularly makes him miserable, ponders this writer, whose own chosen form of misery is writing.
PHOTO: REUTERS
David Brooks
Haruki Murakami was a mediocre student. Like a lot of people who go on to high achievement later in life, the future novelist had trouble paying attention to what the teachers told him to pay attention to, and could only study what he was interested in. But he made it to college, and a few credits before graduating he opened a small jazz club in Tokyo. After a ton of hard work, he was able to pay the bills, hire a staff member and keep the place open.
In 1978, Murakami was at Meiji Jingu Stadium in Japan watching a baseball game and drinking a beer. The lead-off batter for his team, the Yakult Swallows, laced the ball down the left field line. As the batter pulled into second base, a thought crossed through Murakami’s head: “You know what? I could try writing a novel.”
