Monday, March 2, 2026
When you feel lonely, get on the apps and look for a soulmate—only if you enjoy endless swiping, rejection, doomscrolling, and bottomless searches. When you wonder how you’re going to survive, sit around and scheme and stew—only if you enjoy worry.
Play the lottery only if you enjoy giving the gas station your last dollar and scrubbing away the silvered coating with a penny, then throwing away the detritus. Go to the casino only if you enjoy cigarette smoke, hearing the bells, seeing the lights, and feeding a machine worthless pieces of metal called coins.
Look for a job only if you enjoy job searching, and only if you enjoy having a job. Get an education only if you enjoy being educated. When you’re sick, Google your symptoms only if you enjoy medical anxiety and learning of the innumerable ways you’re inevitably going to die. When you want to be informed, click on the news only if you enjoy what’s happening in the world.
When you want to know what everybody is up to, open social media only if you enjoy not being included in the picture-perfect lives of people you barely know. Lose weight only if you enjoy calorie restriction, nutrition, exercise, and health. Save money only if you enjoy saving. Brush your teeth only if you are joyful about having a clean and strong smile.
Go to church, but only if you enjoy it. If you go out of obligation, routine, or guilt, or to show others how holy you are—don’t bother. Give only because you enjoy it. For any other reason, you’re a hypocrite. Live only because you enjoy it. For any other reason, you’re dead.
Seek truth only if you enjoy the pretense that it’s missing, absent, or not real. If not for joy’s sake, why bother with anything?