Let’s make an effort to be a little less nonchalant each day. It doesn’t have to be dramatic — a simple “this made me think of you” to someone you like, a postcard to your best friend for no reason or a compliment to the person sitting next to you in lecture. That’s the mindset I’m practicing: If it costs me a little cool, fine. I’d rather be understood. And when I pick my book back up, I’m reminded why. Page after page, the mundane stories add up to true devotion.

There is nothing philosophical about the voluntary death of nearly 800,000 people every year.

Every now and then, many say society needs to step away from the conventional world and become immersed in spaces that give people the chance to look inward. Luckily, a temporary void of whimsical, thought-provoking...