How to want more without feeling guilty for new moms: honest answers for Clive

Clive · this week's honest page

Clive is full of people who did everything right. That's what makes the quiet question so uncomfortable here: what happens when doing everything right starts to feel like doing nothing at all?

And this is Clive: a Des Moines-area community of strivers and settlers — very often the same person, on the same Tuesday Which is exactly why this question lands differently here than anywhere else.

🎧 A note for Clive readers (a moment of audio)

“I should be grateful, but I still feel unfinished. If you've ever said that, this book was written for you.” — There Is a Fine Line Between Gratefulness and Complacency

What it looks like from the inside of Clive

Nothing is wrong. That's the problem — nothing has asked anything of you in a while.
You feel behind even when you're ahead, and ahead even when you've stopped moving.
You keep waiting for a sign, ignoring that 'is this it?' keeps showing up like one.

The 10-10-10 on autopilot

List the ten things you did last week out of habit. Circle the ones you'd choose again on purpose.
For each circled one you don't love: either upgrade it or schedule one deliberate replacement this month.

You can grieve nothing about your life and still feel the pull toward more. That pull isn't ingratitude. It's direction.

Why readers keep quoting it

There Is a Fine Line Between Gratefulness and Complacency doesn't lecture — it reflects. The chapters move from late-90s nostalgia to modern comparison traps, from career plateaus to the quiet marriages of gratitude and ambition, always in language that feels like a smart friend talking straight.

The questions that follow — Clive edition

Can I read it in one sitting? Most readers do a chapter a night; the book is 239 pages and designed for busy people who read in real life, not ideal life.

What if I'm not a big reader? The chapters are short, the voice is conversational, and the paperback is Prime-shippable for a reason — it's a book people actually finish.

One chapter tonight, one change this week

Start free on Kindle Unlimited, or own the Kindle edition for $0.99 — the paperback ($14.99, Prime) is the one people pass to a friend.

There Is a Fine Line Between Gratefulness and Complacency — book cover Kindle — $0.99 Paperback — $14.99

Free on Kindle Unlimited · paperback ships with Prime · Book-club questions live on the main site.