What makes this observation peculiar—and unsettling—is that Woolf isn't simply urging courage or engagement. She's identifying a logical trap: the very act of withdrawing to find peace *creates* the condition you're fleeing from. A person who quits their job to escape workplace anxiety, only to spiral into isolation and regret, learns this the hard way. Woolf suggests that peace isn't a sanctuary you retreat into, but something that emerges *through* participation in the messy, contradictory business of living—arguing with loved ones, failing at projects, sitting with discomfort. The peace worth having, in other words, must be earned while your hands are still dirty.