I will be crossing the U.S. by car from west to east this week. Follow on Twitter @EileenKohan or @workthoughts. In the interim, some thoughts from Tim Kreider, ‘The Busy Trap’.

“If you live in America in the 21^st century you’ve probably had to listen to a lot of people tell you how busy they are…They’re busy because of their own ambition or drive or anxiety, because they’re addicted to busyness and dread what they might have to face in its absence…

But I would suggest that an ideal human life lies somewhere between my own defiant indolence and the rest of the world’s frenetic hustle. My role is just to be a bad influence, the kid standing outside the classroom window making faces at you at your desk, urging you to just this once make some excuse and get out of there, come outside and play… I did make a conscious decision, a long time ago, to choose time over money, since I’ve always understood that the best investment of my limited time on earth was to spend it with people I love… Life is too short to be busy.”