Beauty can become tiring when enjoying it requires protecting it constantly.

RESILIENCE

WHAT THIS MEANS

Some lovely things arrive with a job attached. A pale carpet, a glass table, a garden that only looks right when it has just been weeded: the pleasure is real, and so is the standing guard. Past a certain point the upkeep eats the enjoyment, and you find yourself managing an object rather than living with it. Beauty that needs constant defending turns its owner into staff.

Look around for the one lovely thing that costs you the most vigilance. Ask honestly whether the pleasure still outweighs the watching. Sometimes the answer is to let it wear, and sometimes to pass it to someone with more patience for it.

A QUESTION TO SIT WITH

Does anything you own tire you out by needing protection?

MORE IN CHOICE & CONSEQUENCE

Free, with nothing to buy inside it.