My new stand-up show talks about how being in survival mode and being happy are mutually exclusive. In the show I use wildlife and relationships as illustrations, but it probably applies more to an artist’s career.

You want to be happy? You have to take yourself out of the grind first. You have to get out of clawing for the next dollar and hoping things work out. That feeling of always running – always having to think your way out of a corner – is survival mode.

Have you ever seen a peacefully sleeping gazelle?

That mindset doesn’t help you create. It only helps you exist.

Happiness comes when you find a way to get the things inside your head out instead. When you stop hustling and sit still and trust that the wolves you think are out there are scared of confidence and fire after all.

It comes when you get to do work that is satisfying. It comes from getting to play.

And I say that to say thank you. As an audience you’ve helped me sit still.

My new special is zipping along with close to a hundred people an hour watching it, every hour, every day. And that number is rising. And they’re watching the entire film, too, not just a TikTok clip.

We know when we’re happy and we know when we’re in survival mode. Sometimes we just have to pause long enough to recognize it.