December 23, 2025
There is a particular kind of exhaustion that shows up during the holidays. Not the dramatic kind. The quiet kind. The kind that comes from moments that refuse to end even after they already have.
Today’s Thought of the Day and Question of the Day both orbit that same idea. Knowing when something is complete. And having the courage to let it end cleanly.
Thought of the Day
“Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.” — Benjamin Franklin
This quote gets softer the longer you sit with it. It is not about grand reinvention or bold resolutions. It is about restraint.
Being at war with your vices is not loud. It does not announce itself. Most days it looks like choosing not to indulge every impulse just because the opportunity is there. It looks like stopping before you usually would.
Being at peace with your neighbors is not about perfect harmony. It is about deciding not to let small frictions grow into lasting resentments. A lot of conflict lingers simply because no one is willing to let it end.
And becoming better does not mean becoming new. It means becoming slightly more aware. More willing to pause. More willing to step away when staying no longer adds anything.
That kind of growth rarely comes from doing more. It comes from knowing when enough is enough.
Question of the Day
What holiday moment lasts three times longer than it needs to?
For me, it is saying goodbye at the party.
You have been with these people all day. You have talked. You have eaten. You have caught up. And yet, when it is time to leave, the goodbye somehow stretches into an hour long event.
There is the first goodbye. Then the recap goodbye. Then the doorway goodbye. Then the driveway goodbye. Everyone is polite. Everyone is warm. And everyone is clearly ready to go home.
This is not really about manners. It is about discomfort with endings. We worry that leaving efficiently looks dismissive. That a clean exit somehow cheapens the moment. So we stretch it. We linger. We add unnecessary chapters to something that was already complete.
The irony is that the meaning of the gathering does not disappear when you leave on time. The connection does not vanish. The memory does not weaken. Sometimes the most respectful ending is the simplest one.
The holidays amplify this instinct. We drag moments out because we are aware they are temporary. But not everything needs to linger to matter. Some moments are perfect precisely because they end when they should.
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Tomorrow will come whether we linger or not. We might as well learn how to leave the party when it’s over.
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