Imagine, if you will, that you’re a Nick Cave fan and avid follower of the Red hand Files interaction he does with fans. You write a letter in to Nick, and he not only answers it but says this:

 

“ I have received and read around forty thousand letters on The Red Hand Files and yours is perhaps my favourite. I am very happy that this letter was written by a guy from my hometown of Melbourne — that makes me proud… But, Thomas, the main reason I am writing to you is to just say thank you for your letter, it is a superb thing, really, and something I will treasure.”

 

So that’s like winning the Cave fan lottery right there. Anyway, onto the broader appeal of this story: the letter essentially asked if Nick Cave ever had self doubt, and the man replied “The answer is yes, very much so.”

 

How so? “My self-doubt tends to manifest itself in sudden, hot rushes of embarrassment, and usually emerges alongside a loss of playfulness or humour — or rather, when I start to take myself, and indeed life, too seriously.

 

It seems to arise as a countering response to my own sense of self-importance. Self-doubt is common to us all, I suspect, and uncomfortable and unpleasant as it is, a certain amount can be the truest humanising force, keeping us humble, vulnerable, open-minded and connected to the world. But, of course, we need to remain vigilant and not allow our self-doubt to become compulsive — to imprison us, shut us down and make us incapable of forward movement. At these times, it is worth remembering that the world can be funny — as can we — and to not take ourselves too seriously.”