Take away love and our earth is a tomb.

Strip affection out of a life and what remains is not neutral; it is stone. The work, the rooms, the routines all continue, and none of them generate their own warmth. What makes a place feel lived in is that someone there matters to you and you matter to someone. Without that, a day that once felt full simply feels occupied.

If your days have started to feel like maintenance, what is thin is probably closeness rather than effort. Choose one person and give them an unhurried hour this week, with nothing to arrange and nothing to fix.