Creative pursuits: music, visual arts, writing, dancing, etc. are easy to drop because there's no external motivation. No-one is making us do them, and there are no immediate negative consequences - such as attend our deciding not to go to work because we don't happen to feel like it!
There are even some secondary gains: a bit of relief from a packed schedule, and a bit of extra money in our pockets. These gains are soon lost to some other 'necessity'. The losses outweigh the gains, but again, we're the main sufferers.
If our lives aren't lived richly and creatively, nobody is going to tell us off. Your friends may mention it if you lose some weight, they won't if you lose some joie de vivre. Parents phone teenagers who have fled the nest, asking if they're eating well, not if they're keeping up their hobbies.
Yet a subtle malnourishment will take its toll. Sadly, it's easy to starve your soul.
This is post 20 of 100 posts in 100 days.
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