A candle gets shorter every minute it’s useful. Giving always costs something.

Real generosity is not free, and pretending otherwise leads to a strange kind of resentment later. When you give time or attention or care, it comes out of a finite supply, and that is precisely what makes it worth anything. A gift that costs the giver nothing is not much of a gift, and endless giving is not something anyone can sustain.

Notice what you are actually spending this week and on whom. Let yourself count it rather than pretending you are inexhaustible. Then decide deliberately where the light goes, and allow yourself to be shorter at the end of a day that mattered.