Reversing melancholy
She wasn't looking for wisdom when she found it. She was just watching a documentary. But sometimes the right words find you at exactly the right moment — and when a 75-year-old Steve Martin looked into a camera and wondered aloud how he'd gone from riddled with anxiety to genuinely, unexpectedly happy, Sam Shaddock felt something loosen. This one is short. It doesn't try to do too much. It's just a gutsy broad passing along something that helped — on the chance that it might help you too.
"My whole life is backwards. How did I go from riddled with anxiety in my 30s, to [age] 75 and really happy? How did this happen?"
I’m not done watching it yet, but the Steve Martin documentary currently available on Apple TV is so wonderful that I can’t wait a second more to encourage anyone who stumbles upon this blog to watch it.
So many moments in the piece have moved me, but the above quote stood out in particular tonight. I, too, was riddled with anxiety in my 30s. I don’t think I’ve reached Steve Martin’s level of happiness, but I still have time. We all do.
XOXO,
Sam
Originally published at samshaddock.com on January 6, 2026.