Letting Go Is Not Giving Up | the Long Way Around

Rehearse this thought every day, that you may be able to depart from life contentedly; for many men clutch and cling to life, even as those who are carried down a rushing stream clutch and cling to briars and sharp rocks.

And that means not trying fruitlessly to get ahead on a speeding treadmill by falling over and over again for marketing gimmicks. It means turning the treadmill off by managing our wants. In the words of the Spanish Catholic saint Josemaría Escrivá, “He has most who needs least. Don’t create needs for yourself.”[19]

As fun and exciting and pleasurable as these pleasures are, it’s worth putting them in their place. You don’t get a prize at the end of your life for having consumed more, worked more, spent more, collected more, or learned more about the various vintages than everyone else. You are just a conduit, a vessel that temporarily held or interacted with