Within this article, which goes to the extremes of human behaviour to be sure, are questions for all who endeavour to live a conscious life.

2189 Mile Marathon’. The question ‘Why am I doing this’ is a good one. Introspection is good, unless you are an ultr-marathoner…..https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/06/the-2189-mile-marathon/559112/

How do you get the unrelenting sense of purpose that sustains, say, one of the world’s greatest ultra-marathoners? Not the way you might think: Avoiding introspection seems to be key. Hutchinson, a creditable runner himself (though his career never came close to matching Jurek’s), spends long passages puzzling over the mysteries of his own peak performances and dissecting his failures. Jurek, meanwhile, gives the impression that doubting his commitment hardly ever even occurred to him—until he hit the Appalachian Trail.

Perfection is achieved,
not when there is nothing more to add,
but when there is nothing left to take away.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery
French writer (1900 – 1944)

The above quote comes towards the end of this video:
https://faircompanies.com/videos/thoreauvian-simple-living-unelectrified-timeless-tiny-home/

Tiny/tidy…tiny/messy. I’ll take the middle way.

How like life’s path.