In between all the things you HAVE to do and all the things you SHOULD do runs a quiet flow of things you LIKE to do.

I like the analogy of water. Think of a small stream, easing through a landscape. It seems innocuous enough--just there, never intrusive. Yet as time and erosion go by, that stream cuts deeper and wider, until you have a fissure, a gully, or even something akin to the Grand Canyon.

Think of that stream as your suppressed WANT TO DOs. If all you do are the things you have to do or should do, that stream continues, cutting deeper and deeper, until one day you have a hole that can never be filled.

That's why people take vacations. That's why the Orthodox Jewish idea of a Sabbath of absolutely no work or earthly care is refreshing. That's why people who never slow down enough to feel the joy of pure relaxation go crazy or grow bitter.

Life's short. Write about it, yes. But live it, too.