On curating our lives

I read a quote the other day that slapped me right in the face. You know those moments when someone has so beautifully captured a feeling you've had, but hadn't found the words to articulate? This quote did that for me:

The price of anything is how much of your life you're willing to exchange for it.
- Henry David Thoreau

I've been thinking a lot about energy lately, and how important our decisions about how we spend time are. We all vote with our energy, the events we attend, the social engagements we say yes to, the job offers we accept— every yes is a promise to exchange a bit of your life for that person or activity.

It's easy to lose sight of how important your choices are. The questions come hard and fast, and sometimes it feels easier to say yes. So you go to coffee with the stranger from Linkedin, you attend the conference with led by those dudes you feel squishy about, you go to dinner with the friend who undermines your confidence.

When let just anyone co-opt our energy— our lives start to reflect those choices. Our lives start to look like an open-invitation frat party. Random people stroll in and take up space, the beer is cheap and skunky, you don't know where the time went but it didn't seem like you had any fun.

Instead, we need to be picky about how we spend our time. We need to curate something that looks a little less like a basement frat party, and a little more like an art gallery. You get to design your art gallery, so be thoughtful with your yeses and liberal with your nos. Fill your life with the people and things you love. Add in learning that lights you up, challenges that hurt your brain, people who fill your cup. Be incredibly intentional about the things you choose to spend your energy on, because those choices are the architecture of your life.

Don't settle for the frat party honey, live your life like it's the Louvre.