Selective Addition

“Perfection is not when there is no more to add, but no more to take away.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Over last few months, we’ve done some deep experimentation with what we can take away.

We took away gatherings.

We took away dining out at restaurants.

We took away leisurely shopping trips to Target.

We took away appointments at the salon. 

We took away working from the office. 

We took away childcare.

We took away school, and college, and living in the dorms. 

In many ways, we took away the key pillars of both work, and life, as we knew them.

Before we start adding it all back in and filling our calendars, and our time, and our list of commitments, may we pause to ask:

Do we want it all back?

Do we want to fill the tiny boxes on our calendars,

all of the lines on our to-do list,

every weekend post-sheltering-in-place with plans and invitations?

Or, in some ways, in some dimensions, might we have touched glimpses of perfection during our experiment of the things we’ve taken away?

What is the thing that, up until the last few months, had felt out of reach -  that we were able to touch and taste and feel during these past few months? 

Was it more time with family?

More time for morning workouts from home?

More time for a lingering breakfast, without needing to drive into the office? 

More time and space to call loved ones and talk on the phone?

More time to go inward, without so much noise, to think about what we really, truly desire?

What could it look like to reflect on these things? To consider the element of perfection that we might have danced with - perhaps even unintentionally - in this period when so many things were taken away?

And to consider, moving forward, what it might look like to seek perfection not by adding it all back in - but being selective and intentional about what makes the cut?