Theroux mentions Emerson several times in The Journal Keeper so I spent some time last weekend scouring the house for a collection of his essays. One was nowhere to be found. Only a copy of "The American Scholar" in the Norton Anthology.
But this morning I realize that I don't need a hard copy; I can go online. And there they are, familiar words a balm to my flagging spirit:
Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events. ...
Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another, you have only an extemporaneous, half possession.Ah yes, I feel better now. Ready to take on the day.