To Live Deliberately

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover I had not lived.

— Henry David Thoreau

It can be too easy at times to binge-watch YouTube videos. They have the algorithm down, recommending interesting thing after interesting thing. Other times it’s a TV show, and the episodes are short. What's the harm in watching one more (and another, and another)? When I finally peel myself away from the screen, I'm often left feeling empty.

Most people don’t have the luxury or interest in doing what Thoreau did—finding a cabin by a pond to live in for a time. His words, however, make me think about how I live my life. I don’t want to look back years later and wonder what I could have done with all that wasted time.

I, too, seek to live deliberately. But, I suspect I will spend my entire life working out how, and that's ok.