The small life

The persistent surprise of adulthood is how much less you need. Fewer tools, fewer rooms, fewer ambitions than the world insists on. What's left after the subtraction tends to be what was already working.

Scope creep in a life looks like more — more hobbies, more aspirations, more commitments. It feels like growth. It usually isn't. You've added items; you haven't added hours. The only honest response to "add" is "remove."

A small life is not a lesser life. It's a concentrated one.