Lord, let my first response to the prospect of a novel social engagement no longer be, “Aw, man. That’ll impinge on my capacity to discharge my current responsibilities well.” The fact is, half of what I’m calling “my current responsibilities” are no such thing: They are instead scruples, habits, things I probably read at some point somewhere were good for me, parts of my misguidedly constant quest for constancy.
And most of the other half can probably wait.
It shouldn’t be that novel social engagements feel like detractions from these non-social responsibilities and “responsibilities.” From now on, let my first response to the prospect of a novel social engagement be, “Ooh. I’d love to do that.” And let the only energy preservation check be, “Can I do so without irresponsibly detracting from my other social engagements?”