Time & Perspective Quote by Jonathan Kellerman

Creative stamina is never glamorous in the moment; its glamour is retrospective. Kellerman frames productivity less as a heroic grind than as a kind of adrenaline-fueled immersion. The key move is the time shift: "didn't feel difficult at the time" versus "afterward". He’s describing flow without using the buzzword, letting the body do the explaining. Difficulty doesn’t vanish, it gets deferred. That’s a sly, psychologically literate observation from a clinician: our internal gauges are unreliable when motivation is high, and the bill comes due only after the task releases its grip.

The phrase "charged up" does double duty. It suggests enthusiasm, but also electricity: a system temporarily running at higher voltage. That energy is not endless; it’s borrowed. "Both books" hints at an overcommitment that sounds impressive, yet he refuses the tortured-artist narrative. Instead, he offers a controlled, almost therapeutic reframe: exhaustion as evidence of purposeful exertion rather than damage.

Then comes the cultural translation: "like after a great workout". It’s an American, self-management metaphor that turns artistic labor into something measurable, healthy, even virtuous. Work becomes training. Fatigue is not a warning sign but a satisfiable hunger: you earned it, you recover, you return.

The subtext is a quiet endorsement of intensity with boundaries. Kellerman isn’t romanticizing burnout; he’s normalizing the physiological aftermath of deep focus. The context - a psychologist who’s also a prolific novelist - makes the analogy land harder. He’s signaling that mental work is embodied, and that feeling "tired in a good way" is one of the few honest metrics we have that the effort was real.