By default

Every day, you move a centimeter.

Not enough to notice. Not enough to stop.

But centimeters add up.

That’s how people become more patient than they were last year. And it’s also how they become more selfish. More rigid. More impressed with themselves.

No one starts out distant. Indifference isn’t where we begin.

It’s where we arrive.

Not by choice. By not paying attention.

We like to think becoming someone worse requires a moment — a line crossed, a decision made.

It doesn’t.

Drift is quiet. Convenience steers. Comfort votes.

And then you notice where you are.

Here’s the uncomfortable part:

Your future self is already under construction.

Not by what you promise to do later, but by what you tolerate now.

Attention changes direction.

And here’s the truth that matters:

If you don’t decide who you’re becoming, time will be happy to decide for you.