Time to read: 1 min, 10 seconds
We've been talking about creating your life so you feel well-used. I saw a great quote from Annie Dillard that said, "How you spend your day is how you spend your life."
Your day comprises a series of small choices: what to eat, how to talk to others, what to do with your time, and how you show up.
There's a common finding in psychology: people rarely regret the things they did, even the things that failed. What haunts people is what they didn't try.
You don't regret the bad relationship you left or the business you tried and failed. But the person you never told how you felt, the chance you didn't take, the conversation you kept postponing? Those are the ones that stick.
There's a reason for this. When you act, and it goes wrong, you get an ending. You get information. You grieve and learn. But when you don't act, there's no ending, just an open wondering about what might have been.
Inaction feels safe in the moment because nothing bad happens. But nothing good happens either. Doors don't stay open forever. Many doors close quietly, without you noticing, and by the time you look back, the choice is gone.
This is the wild part of "wild and precious." Not recklessness — just refusing to let fear of a bad outcome be the reason you stopped.
So here's a question worth sitting with: What's the thing you've been not-doing? Not because you decided against it, but because you never decided?
That's usually the one worth looking at first.
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