Day 0301

Lunch with classicists and art historians in Cambridge, lovely interlude from country life and routine interactions with family, clients and prospective employers.

Consciously trying to eat well and resist the many opportunities and pressures to get treats. Probably diminishing my willpower reserves which might be better expended elsewhere but it feels good to master my natural weaknesses. So in total, I'm a teetotal, vegetarian, non-treat-eating martyr-recluse who lives at home with his father and leaves the house once or twice a week for a careful dose of social engagements. Strangely, I'm feeling jolly positive about it all, probably because I feel I'm in control of things and am able to shape and mould my days through what seems to be a productive and healthy routine.

Interested in the longitudinal study of the Harvard men to find out what makes a good life. Drawn inexorably to the idea that there is some elusive recipe for wellbeing. Any conclusions drawn from that study will surely be modified or overturned completely, but the suggestions that have arisen from it are compellingly simple and are probably as good as any other tenents around which to build a life. Good relationships are central. Mine are more or less adequate, with one glaring exception which I will have to steel myself to mend.