This article is published in issue 41 of Vanity Fair on newsstands until 8 October 2024.
The longevity of great actors, especially in the theater, has always struck me. They lead a very tiring life, always travelling, with unruly habits, they eat at night, everything that doctors advise against. But they are united by an evidently very healthy habit: doing the job they love to the end. Glauco Mauri would have turned 94 on October 1st. The divine Maggie Smith 90 on December 28th. It may also be that only those with excellent health can be an actor for so long, and not the other way around, but I like to think that a good job helps you live longer and better, given that it is one of the few certainties that I have (not that of living long but of loving what I do). I was struck by the article written above Lucy. On culture by Donatella Di Pietrantonio, winner of the last Strega Award with The fragile agewhere she says that the job she really liked – writing – she started doing at 50, and only now that she is 62, after five successful books, does she allow herself to leave the other job she has done all her life : the dentist. The psychoanalyst James Hillman in Code of the soul explains that to feel good it is essential to discover your own daemonone’s vocation, and exercise it. It can be anything: writing but also cooking, teaching, taking care of animals, walking in the mountains, anything. Each of us has something that we do best and that makes us vibrate, makes us feel good, excites us. Being able to do it for work is a great privilege and helps you live better, but the important thing is to do it, that thing, even if you don’t always manage to make it a job. Data has recently come out which says that Italian women are among those in Europe who live the longest in good health (after Malta, Bulgaria and Slovenia). I also like to think that it is because we are capable of recognizing our vocation and practicing it – despite everything and everyone – whatever it is.
To subscribe to Vanity Fair, click here.
Source: Vanity Fair
I’m Susan Karen, a professional writer and editor at World Stock Market. I specialize in Entertainment news, writing stories that keep readers informed on all the latest developments in the industry. With over five years of experience in creating engaging content and copywriting for various media outlets, I have grown to become an invaluable asset to any team.
