“You look great,” someone said to me last week. “Have you lost weight?” Which is always nice to hear, but it got me thinking.

In the first place, I haven’t lost a pound, I assure you. I eat just as much bread as I always have, which is to say all the bread I can find. I would like to lose weight, of course — a lot of us would, right? — but because that takes concentrated effort and a certain amount of physical activity, I’m staying put, belt-size-wise. In June, I will hit a major age milestone — none of your business which one — and part of getting older is being liberated from the allure of self-improvement. “You’re done,” I keep telling myself when I entertain new ways to get healthy, organized, or achieve my goals. “You’re done,” I say, “this is going to be you until there’s no you anymore.”