I have 28 health newsletters in my inbox.
All unread.
I see them every day.
Between meetings, between emails, sometimes late at night.
And every time I catch myself thinking:
I’ll read this later, when I have the time.
Not because I’m not interested.
But because I find all of them interesting.
Every subject line promises something:
simpler, healthier, better.
And I notice that I don’t delete them.
Just in case someone asks.
Just in case there’s something important in there.
Just in case I go through them properly at some point.
What I didn’t realize for a long time:
I’m not collecting information.
I’m collecting open loops.
And with every new newsletter, a quiet thought appears:
You could do this as well.
—
The content itself isn’t the problem.
I’ve taken a closer look at some of these newsletters.
Many of them contain 15 or more suggestions:
nutrition, sleep, movement, mental health, prevention.
All reasonable.
All well-intended.
All potentially helpful.
And that’s exactly the problem.
Not because the content is bad.
But because there is too much that is good.
—
At the same time, I read other newsletters.
Less often.
One topic.
A clear line.
I read them and don’t feel like I should start ten new things.
Instead, I feel like
I understand one thing better.
The difference is subtle, but decisive.
Some give you more to do.
Others help you do less.
—
And then there’s me.
I work in a field where knowledge matters.
I support people in making healthier decisions.
And still, I notice:
I feel overwhelmed by the amount.
There’s this quiet sense
that I should probably learn even more.
Another podcast.
Another article.
Another study.
And at the same time, the gap grows
between what I know
and what I actually do.
—
Maybe the problem isn’t that we lack knowledge.
Maybe the problem is that no one helps us decide
what we no longer need to know.
—
28 unread newsletters are not a knowledge base.
They are 28 open decisions.
And maybe the healthiest step today is not the next tip.
But the decision
to choose three things—
and let the rest go.
If you notice that this is the difficult part—
not the knowledge, but the decision—
then it’s worth looking closer there.
Not to collect more.
But to become clearer.
—
Food for Thought. Structure for Change.