In this life, merely living is easy; living well is hard.
I very much like a passage Maupassant wrote in Une Vie (A Life):
“The best way to keep one’s vitality is to fall madly in love with something, so that one will not be drowned by this dull existence. Our bodies need only a little food to survive, while the spirit needs mountains, rivers, and freedom.”
In this life, merely living is easy; living well is hard.
Three meals a day and freedom from hunger and cold are enough to sustain our bodies. But what truly carries us through the trivialities, helps us endure exhaustion, and enables us to walk the long road of life is never mere sustenance—it is the passion and light in our hearts.
Life is, by nature, a repetition of the ordinary.
As the days drag on, the chores of cooking and cleaning wear down one’s patience, and the endless petty details of daily life consume one’s enthusiasm. If the heart is empty, with nothing one loves and no beauty to long for, a person easily becomes numb and dispirited, trapped in endless internal friction.
But once there is something you love in your heart, everything changes.
This love need not be grand, nor does it need to dazzle the world.
It can be a ray of morning sunlight or a gentle evening breeze; it can be reading at leisure, planting flowers, writing, taking a walk, or listening to music; it can be heading into the mountains and wilderness, loving the bustle of everyday life, and loving the ordinary.
It is the remedy hidden within the trivialities of life, the inner strength that supports you in low moments, and the only gentle salvation in a weary existence.
Throughout our entire lives, we cannot live merely to fill our stomachs and sustain our bodies.
Many people spend their whole lives busy and toiling—rushing about earning money, surviving, and catering to others. They exhaust half a lifetime of energy just to feed a body that will eventually grow old, while uniquely neglecting their own soul.
The vitality of an adult has never been about youth or abundant energy, but about still having light in one’s eyes and love in one’s heart after being tempered by life.
Life is dull, yet passion can outlast the long years.
The days are ordinary, yet gentleness can carry us through the smoke and fire of the human world.
To live, one must love something.
Love the myriad things of nature, love the warmth of human life, love a life that is full of vitality.
Let passion heal exhaustion; let gentleness soothe the marks of time.
In the days ahead, do not waste time, and do not let yourself down.
Keep passion in your heart, grow freely, and may every year be peaceful.