The joy of not having a toothache

ABC: 151 On the good kind of work

It’s been a big week for me. I turned 32. My book was the #1 best-selling work-life balance book on Amazon. My back recovered after a few weeks of injury. The latter feels most significant. Nothing quite like an injury to put things in perspective...

Texting with my sister this week, she reminded me of a phrase a meditation teacher of hers once used: “The joy of not having a toothache.” Isn’t that lovely? It’s all too easy to forget to appreciate when things are working as they should be.

Part of my obsession with our relationship to work stems from my obsession with how we spend our time and energy. Throw out your back after days of hunching over a screen, and all your productivity gains become negligible. The body certainly keeps the score.

This week’s article is my favorite piece of writing I’ve read in a while. It’s a beautiful meditation on the different types of labor in our lives. This paragraph might as well be the thesis of my book.

Unyoking your love from your job—fundamentally an economic transaction—frees up your energy to put work into your relationships and your community, inside the workplace and out. It also, crucially, frees you up to put work into loving and caring for yourself, and pursuing the things that make you more of who you are.

Here’s the piece: Labour of love

Warmly,
Simo

P.S. The song of the week is some smooth R&B in the vein of D’Angelo. Shouts to my friend Pavel for sending it my way.
P.P.S. Also, thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of your support this week! If you haven’t yet done so, you can pre-order the book here.