Your Life Does Not Need a Witness to Count

There are moments we instinctively reach to document before we have fully experienced them.

The meal, the view, the flowers, the book beside the coffee cup positioned just so.

Sharing is not the problem. Human beings have always wanted witnesses.

But occasionally leave something unreported.

Take the walk without turning it into evidence. Wear the beautiful thing where no one important will see you. Make dinner properly when you are the only guest.

This is especially useful after a breakup, during loneliness, or whenever you have begun measuring your life by whether someone specific appears to notice it.

A private pleasure develops a different kind of weight.

It reminds you that experience does not require applause to become real.

Some of the best parts of a life can belong entirely to the person who lived them.