I’ve been working from home, on a computer, for 12 years now, and the autonomy my job affords has allowed me to sand all the rough edges from my routines. By most measures, I’m a model of health, efficiency and productivity. I spend every morning in undistracted, email-free “deep work”, and I long ago purged social media from my life. I maintain a steady sleep-wake schedule, exercise daily and home-cook most of my meals using whole foods. I’m married with children. I have friends, and I spend time with them. I travel and read books. None of this has allowed me, at 41, to avoid the gradual onset of mid-life melancholy, which I’ve come to believe is a consequence of my overly routinised way of life. I don’t think I have the wrong habits; I think I have too many of them. And they are suffocating me.
我已經在家用電腦工作12年了，工作的自主性讓我能夠打磨掉日常生活中的所有粗糙邊角。按照大多數標準來看，我是健康、效率和生產力的典範。我每個早晨都會在沒有電子郵件干擾的情況下專注於「深度工作」，而且我早已把社群媒體從我的生活中清除。我保持著穩定的睡眠-清醒週期，每天鍛鍊身體，大多數飯菜都是用全食材自己烹飪。我已婚並有孩子。我有朋友，也會花時間與他們相處。我旅行，閱讀書籍。然而，所有這些都沒能讓我在41歲時避免逐漸陷入中年的憂鬱。我開始相信，這是我過於規律化生活方式的結果。我不認爲我有錯誤的習慣；我認爲我的習慣太多了。它們正在讓我窒息。