To elevate your life, you must elevate the definition of the words around you. Two people can use the same exact language to describe their day: they eat healthy, exercise well, work hard, and are focused with their work. And what their life really looks like may look completely different.

do not outsource the most important things: your health, happiness, thoughts to products that profit off you

We’re taught that if we’re not growing, we’re falling behind. Careers must advance, businesses must expand, and anything that levels off starts to look irrelevant. Something can stop expanding without losing its value, like Latin. When cells grow uncontrollably, we call it cancer. It’s cancerous to crave constant growth without considering its cost (unless its reasoning tokens). It’s cancerous to confuse bigger numbers with better lives. It’s cancerous to call stability stagnation. Economists recognize that stability allows people to plan, and sometimes a plateau is an achievement in itself. And sometimes progress moves backward. In forests adapted to fire, burning away accumulated vegetation can create the conditions for renewal. There is less standing afterward, yet the ecosystem can become healthier.