Backsliding, by Meghan O’Gieblyn
harpers.org · 5,282 words · saved by 10 readers
On the paradox of willpower
July 2026 Issue [Memoir] Backsliding On the paradox of willpower by Meghan O’Gieblyn , Man on the Moon, 2017, ink on rice paper, by Matthew Wong © 2026 Matthew Wong Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy Cheim and Read, New York City [Memoir] Backsliding On the paradox of willpower by Meghan O’Gieblyn , Adjust Share There’s a woman I see each day on my walks along the bike path, a runner who can barely run at all. She has the small, limp forearms of a kangaroo. Her legs are like taffy stretched to the breaking point. There has been a woman like her at every gym
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