On Taking Responsibility While Remaining Whimsical

Making mistakes online, overpromising, and pivoting instead of collapsing

Dear Reader,

While Mary Oliver is primarily known for her poetry, she has also written a number of essays with urgently gorgeous prose. Today, we visit one of those from her collection Upstream, Collected Essays.

“You must never stop being whimsical.

And you must not, ever, give anyone else the responsibility for your life.

I don’t mean it’s easy or assure…