The freedom of an unscheduled afternoon brought confusion rather than joy. Julius had always been focused. When he was not seeing patients, other important projects and activities-writing, teaching, tennis, research-clamored for his attention. But today nothing seemed important. He suspected that nothing had ever been important, that his mind had arbitrarily imbued projects with importance and then cunningly covered its traces. Today he saw through the ruse of a lifetime. Today there was nothing important to do, and he ambled aimlessly down Union Street. . Irvin D. Yalom
About This Quote

The quote "The freedom of an unscheduled afternoon brought confusion rather than joy" is about the difficulty of maintaining focus in a hectic life. When we have no plans for that day, we find the unplanned time unproductive and boring.

Source: The Schopenhauer Cure

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More Quotes By Irvin D. Yalom
  1. Despair is the price one pays for self-awareness. Look deeply into life, and you'll always find despair.

  2. It is wrong to bear children out of need, wrong to use a child to alleviate loneliness, wrong to provide purpose in life by reproducing another copy of oneself. It is wrong also to seek immortality by spewing one's germ into the future as though...

  3. The spirit of a man is constructed out of his choices.

  4. Life is a spark between two identical voids, the darkness before birth and the one after death.

  5. The freedom of an unscheduled afternoon brought confusion rather than joy. Julius had always been focused. When he was not seeing patients, other important projects and activities-writing, teaching, tennis, research-clamored for his attention. But today nothing seemed important. <span style="margin:15px; display:block"></span>He suspected that nothing had...

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