Dear Family,

It feels like time is slipping.

I don’t know if it’s just me, but these days, the weeks feel shorter, the months fly by, and before I know it—another quarter is over. There’s this constant tension between trying to build something great and also trying to enjoy the life you’re working so hard to create.

It reminds me of a parable from The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho—one of my favorite books.

There’s a moment in the story where the protagonist, a shepherd boy named Santiago, hears a story about a boy who visits a wise man in a castle. The wise man gives the boy a spoon with two drops of oil and tells him to walk through the entire castle without spilling a drop. The boy does just that, focused only on the spoon, and when he returns, the wise man asks, “Did you see the beautiful tapestries? The magnificent gardens? The works of art?” He hadn’t.

So, the wise man tells him to go again—this time, to take in the beauty of the castle.

On the second walk, the boy sees everything—so much beauty, so much life—but when he returns, the oil is gone. He spilled it. The lesson? The key to life is holding onto your purpose (the oil) without missing the beauty of the journey.

I know so many of us—myself included—are head down, building. We’re focused on the family, the business, the bills, the goals. That’s the oil in the spoon.

But in the process, it’s easy to miss the little moments that make life worth living.

So here’s my reminder, especially as the pace of life picks up:

Slow it down.

Make time to look around.

Be present for your people.

Enjoy life but try not to spill the oil.

From LUX, With Love

Matt