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Okay, Ecclesiastes is one of my favorite books ever, but referring to its message as if it were the message of the whole Bible is incredibly disingenuous, misleading, and unlikely to get anyone to actually read what you're talking about -- how would they know it was that _one_ section?

And quoting it in Latin with no translation is incredibly pompous.

> It feels like it'll take a decade before I'm in any reasonably healthy state to build something, which really doesn't seem worth it.

A decade from now, would you rather still be in a place where you're not reasonably healthy, and not able to build something? You're not at a good place. But if you want to go somewhere better, you have to start from where you are.

But I worry a bit about your focus on building something "meaningful". I mean, yes, working on something that matters is better than working on something that just makes some money. But I recently read Ecclesiastes, and it talks a lot about how futile and empty it is to build something that matters. It's never big enough or important enough or lasts long enough. If you chase it, it will never satisfy you.

Work on something that matters, but do it because it helps people, not because you need it to validate yourself.

I apologize if that comes across as too harsh. But I see a danger that I'm prone to, and I want you not fall into it.

I have not read his work on Ecclesiastes (The Wisdom Books: Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes), but Robert Alter's other translation projects have been excellent. He tries to not just translate the sense but also the 'feel' of the text, which can be a real challenge as Hebrew poetry does not work like English poetry. He includes notes on his translation decisions; even if you disagree with his choices, he'll force you to wrestle with them.