Degradation

Everything in life degrades.

Some things you can stop from degrading, some things you can slow down, and others go straight to nothing.

It's why I have a hard time buying fresh flowers. I struggle with their pace of degradation versus the period of value delivered. Is that overly rational? Yes, it is. I am German, after all.

If you don't work on your relationship, it will degrade and ultimately break apart.

If you don't work on your health, it will degrade and someday render you weak and sick. Muscles go away. Endurance goes away. Speed goes away.

If you don't work on your professional skills, sooner or later, you'll be reporting to the current intern or the AI I have proofreading this blog post. And that's a best-case scenario.

If you don't work on your friendships, they, too, will degrade.

Eventually, everything completely degrades. At least as of right now, we'll all end up as soil in the ground somewhere, and that's the end of your career, love, friendships, and, well, life.

Once you accept that everything degrades, you can choose what's important to you and what you want to slow down or even improve.

But the beauty of life is that while everything degrades, the effort we put in today can create moments of growth, joy, and connection that make it all worthwhile.