Oliver Burkeman's last column: the eight secrets to a (fairly) fulfilled life
“If you’re prone to thinking you should be helping more, that’s probably a sign that you could afford to direct more energy to your idiosyncratic ambitions and enthusiasms. As the Buddhist teacher Susan Piver observes, it’s radical, at least for some of us, to ask how we’d enjoy spending an hour or day of discretionary time. And the irony is that you don’t actually serve anyone else by suppressing your true passions anyway. More often than not, by doing your thing – as opposed to what you think you ought to be doing – you kindle a fire that helps keep the rest of us warm.”
I'm not very familiar with Bukeman, having read none of his books (although I just added one to my list) but much of this column resonated with me. The above quote, but also the fact that we can't possibly do it all so acknowledging that is freeing. This is a short column packed with so much good thinking.