[dstroot]

“Why, exactly, are we rendered so uncomfortable by concentrating on things that matter — the things we thought we wanted to do with our lives — that we’d rather flee into distractions, which, by definition, are what we don’t want to be doing with our lives? When you try to focus on something you deem important, you’re forced to face your limits, an experience that feels especially uncomfortable precisely because the task at hand is one you value so much.”

— Oliver Burkeman, Four Thousand Weeks

[SketchySeaBeast]

I don't have an inspiring quote for it, but you can't focus on "things that matter" all the time, and often the things that matter that you can effect by thinking about them at that moment aren't that many. Yes, you can always be learning something new, but does learning for learning's sake actually matter?

[xedrac]

This is why I love playing chess, reading fantasy books, and gardening... because they don't matter, and I'd rather spend my idle time doing those things than being glued to my phone.

[SketchySeaBeast]

Yeah, that's what I'm trying to do as well. Less time on the phone, more time reading novel whose style and substance I enjoy. Reading isn't something that "matters", but I find one more fulfilling.

[devilbunny]

Books and chess amuse.

Gardening makes the world a more beautiful place. You're right that in the long term, it doesn't matter, but when you walk outside and smell a gardenia...

[j4yav]

Does he get to an answer in the book?

[colecut]

The last sentence looks like an answer to me.