I’ve been re-reading Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman. You know, as one does. This bit from day five jumped out at me:
The first is to treat your to-read pile like a river, not a bucket. That is to say: think of your backlog not as a container that gradually fills up, and that it’s your job to empty, but as a stream that flows past you, from which you get to pick a few choice items, here and there, without feeling guilty for letting all the others float by.
I have so, so many books. I feel guilty about having so, so many books, even when I give them away in my Little Free Library. And some books I may never re-read, but I keep them around because 1) I like them, and 2) you never know.
I don’t need to hustle and grind my way through my to-be-read pile. All I need to do is dip my hand into the stream and pluck out the next book. Obligation vs. fun and adventure? Well, I know which one I’d rather have.
P.S. Note on the image. It’s from 2012, so definitely human-created, not AI-generated.