Struggling to overcome inertia a week or two back I listened to the soundtrack to Into the Wild, one of my favourite films.

It helped me to remember the power that the world’s natural places can have on us, and also to maintain my priorities. I had sunk into the typical London trap of equating quantity of hours spent at my desk with levels of success. Of course that is nonsense. So I’mm trying to remind myself that spending less time at the desk, (but doing work of quality when I am there) and more time out doing things I love, is not wasting time. It is using time!

Last week I used some of my newly-gleaned time to read an essay from Harper’s Magazine expounding the virtues of idleness.
I don’t aspire to be idle, I don’t plan on dying in a bus in Alaska. But I appreciate their wake-up calls to focus on what is important.

“Oh, it’s a mystery to me.
We have a greed, with which we have agreed…
and you think you have to want more than you need…
until you have it all, you won’t be free.

Society, you’re a crazy breed.
I hope you’re not lonely, without me…”