A life well lived is a dance between having the strength to walk away and having the courage to go all in.

It's juggling the idea that absolutely nothing matters,

and the idea that every second is a blessing beyond which I'm capable of even explaining or articulating.

Nothing matters.

So live without limits or constraints.

Like you're on a once in a lifetime journey.

But everything matters.

So know that every second along the way is perfect, a building block, a microcosm of the universe resting in the palm of your hand.

And I think about this push-pull from time to time. I play with the idea that nothing matters when I need courage,

when I need to convince myself to be a little bolder,

reinforce the understanding that there is no pressure here.

Life can only give what I'm willing to carve out.

And as that clock ticks away in the background, what do I have to lose?

As Mark Twain put it, it's the things we don't do that we come to regret.

And then on the other side, when I need a little discipline, I play with the idea that the little things are everything.

After all, two things can be true at once, and the details matter a lot.

For me, getting up two hours earlier does make a difference,

that pushing a little harder will add up.

The little things become everything.

And painting that portrait that had been tucked away in my imagination,

well, that's done one very real, very tangible brush stroke at a time.

It's participating in that dance between nothing and everything, the real and the imaginary.

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