September 01, 2025 by D. Paul Graham

Ever curious and always amused by the quirks of life, join D. Paul Graham each Monday for more M5T pondering.

**“True Colors” photo by D. Paul Graham, Brays Island Plantation, circa 2018**

Sitting in the Delta lounge recently, I overheard a couple quietly wrestling with something that we all struggle with. Time. Or rather, our perceived lack of it. The couple were both professionals, both clearly frayed, and their words danced around absence. At one point, the woman, her voice shaky with emotion, said, “I just need more.”

Her words struck me. Not just because of their poignancy, but because “more” is a word that never leaves us alone. There is a tension between labor and life, results and relaxation, appearance and authenticity, duty and desire, production and presence, and static and stillness. I struggle with those daily. Each of those become an internal negotiation with myself between what I do and who I really am. Taking a long contemplative sip of pinot noir in the lounge, I found myself asking, what kind of “more” really matters? As we enjoy being with family and friends this Labor Day Monday, a day meant to honor the dignity of work and its limits, this morning’s M5T considers “Mores” worth thinking about.

1. MORE RELEVANCE THAN REACH. Labor Day honors those who built foundations, not those who chased headlines. The factory worker, the craftsman, the teacher, the farmer, the nurse, the first responders. People whose “reach” never stretched far but whose relevance and legacy endures in the lives they touched. Philosophers have long argued that a life of meaning is measured not by scope, but by depth. Relevance is about planting roots, not scattering seeds. Reach is applause. Relevance is legacy. As you reach for one more hotdog today, ask yourself, am I stretching for attention, or tending to the circle that depends on me?

2. MORE AUTHENTICITY THAN APPEARANCE. Labor Day didn’t come from polished parades, but from raw struggle. Authenticity that came from the messy, the vulnerable, and the real. Today, our challenges look different. Endless performance expectations, curated feeds, and the appearance of being busy, successful, admired. However, appearance is capricious, but authenticity endures. To live authentically is being truthful with your own sense of self, your values, and your truth, rather than being an actor on someone else’s stage. As you reach for one more beer today, ask yourself, am I being authentically me, or am I merely acting?

3. MORE OPPORTUNITIES IN OBSTACLES. Labor Day’s origins were far from easy. The day came from strikes, setbacks, and refusals. Yet those very obstacles became the turning point for recognition and reform. Obstacles reveal the shape of our lives. They show us what we want, what we fear, and what we’re capable of enduring. Stoics suggest that resistance itself is what forges strength. Iron sharpened on stone. Character shaped by friction. Resolve forged from trials. Faith shaped from temptations. As you reach for one more plate of peach cobbler, internally mulling over your greatest frustration from this last week, ask yourself, what is this frustration offering me? Is it asking for patience, resilience, or courage?

4. MORE WELL-BEING THAN WORKLOAD. It’s ironic that a holiday dedicated to labor is marked by a day off from our work. There is wisdom in that irony. Work without rest consumes the worker, a reminder for us all that to care for yourself is not indulgence but necessity. Balance, health, and renewal are not luxuries. They are conditions for clear thought and sustainable effort. The most productive people leave space for reflection, for conversation, and for silence and solitude. Protect your well-being as deliberately as you protect your work. The tasks will still be there tomorrow. As you take one more trip to the cottage before winter sets in, ask yourself, what would you change if you protected your well-being with the same sense of urgency and discipline with your deadlines?

5. MORE ORDER THAN CHAOS. Work, and for that matter life, has always contained chaos. Unforeseen turns, unequal fortunes, unrelenting demands, moments of imbalance, seasons of scarcity, and the weight of pressing deadlines. We can’t always master our circumstances, but we can bring order to our response. Freedom begins not in controlling the world, but in governing our choices, our judgments, and our energy. Chaos will always knock at the door. Our strength is in deciding if we will even bother answering, or how we greet chaos. As you celebrate one more Labor Day weekend, ask yourself, where should I narrow my focus and my power to bring stability to the chaos that is around me?

Here's to this Labor Day Monday’s reminder that we pursue not just more hours, more effort, and more production, but more meaning in our lives, by being rooted, authentic, resilient, and steady.

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Paul continues to pursue better ‘mores’ in life.

Please share this with someone you think would like to step-up their Mondays. Thank you!

You can reach Paul by email at dpg@imagegraham.com

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