As I wrote about in this week’s newsletter, I’m approaching a turning point in life, and this piece from Maria Popova has been top of mind for me, 17 Life-Learnings from 17 Years of The Marginalian. Here’s one of my favorites:
Presence is far more intricate and rewarding an art than productivity. Ours is a culture that measures our worth as human beings by our efficiency, our earnings, our ability to perform this or that. The cult of productivity has its place, but worshipping at its altar daily robs us of the very capacity for joy and wonder that makes life worth living — for, as Annie Dillard memorably put it, “how we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”