bro i hate this type of shit, when you are a kid you are not doing school work all of the time, and when you are an adult you are not working all of the time - yes you will always have responsibilities but that is a part of your life
When you die, they will put two dates on your tombstone. The day you were born and the day you died. And, in between will be a little dash. That dash represents everything that mattered about your life. All your achievements and failures, all your joy and all your pain. All roll up in just a little dash. Make the most of it before that second date is written.
Remind me to start writing a diary in clay tablets, I’m gonna own the rest of graveyard and future archaeologists!
It worked for our boy Ea-Nasir.
Make sure those tablets get baked by a fire when your city is pillaged and burned. Raw clay doesn’t stand up well to water.
Bold of you to assume everyone gets a tombstone, some are gonna end up in a mass graves after being mass murdered by their government.
Accept that good actions will not give an immediate or always measurable result for you to observe.
You are a social being. What matters most is often not what increases you in status, but what increases others in wellbeing or allows you to appreciate the beauty in lifem
On your death bed you will not wish to have worked more, but probably to have spent more time with people dear to you or that you had spent more time for actions that nudge society a tiny bit more towards your values.
Capitalism especially todays consumerism is built around manipulating you to identify yourself with superficial status. Breaking free of that will open yourself to value your time and actions as meaningful as they become meaningful, even if there is no number or title attachable to it.
I made a vow to myself long ago, because this world’s warped ideals tend to creep up on you when you’re not looking.
I often recite that vow any time someone dear to me apologizes for something like “taking up [my] time.”
I tell them that I vowed to myself that I woud never, ever, regret time spent in good company. Even if it might have been a little inconvenient for whatever reason. We were put here to love thy neighbor, not to hustle and hoard.
Simple as that. It’s kept me from losing the picture so far.
Capitalism also exploits the inherent nature of humans to please and feel validated by others through work. However, the system initially stems from the idea that individuality is sovereign and the cornerstone of successful being and society as a whole. However, no one notices or questions this paradox. Capitalism promotes individualism, and yet if you are not immersed in the grind, hustle and productivity culture, you are deemed lazy and unproductive by society. In other words, even in a system that touts individuality, the worth of someone is still tied to impressing society at large. At the end of the day, you’re not pleasing yourself or your colleagues, you are pleasing those at the top who are earning more than you ever will.
This is why hedonism is a good thing.
You just can’t be so hedonistic that you can’t keep being one next year, and the year after. Or in a way that screws someone over.
A lot of people use “hedonism” as an excuse to destroy themselves with drug addictions and act egoistically in their relationships with others, causing a lot of pain and suffering.
Ok?
Did I not pretty explicitly allude to the need to not over-indulge?
Ah sorry, my bad. I misunderstood it as “it is not possible” rather than “you must not do so”. You are right, it is what you already said.
Yeah. I’m basically saying that being happy right now is a good thing, as long as it doesn’t come at the expense of someone else, or your future.
So many people live miserable lives thinking it’ll make them even happier later, completely ignoring that life should be worth it right now.
Make your life as close to what you want it to be in the present as you can personally achieve, and make plans. Focus on what you want to accomplish this day, week, month, year, 5 years, decade, and by the time you retire. Adjust as necessary if you go off track, whether faster or slower.
Time will pass. Harness it.
https://i.imgur.com/LMlTKLM.jpeg
Kaiji expressed the sentiment as well though imo a smidge better
Wasn’t this a villain speech? I don’t fully remember it but I feel like it might mean something different with the context
It was a villain speech, but sometimes the bad guys have a point. Remember the villain from the first James Cameron Avatar movie? He had this speech, which, gotta be real, he’s not wrong.
They have a point, but ultimately it’s still a biased rationalization. The idea that life is impermanent and you can’t defer doing what you care about with it is true, but it does bug me when this is posted that it’s also an imagined, hostile caricature from the perspective of a character who sees people (in particular people who have found themselves in debt slavery to his organized crime group) as just worthless losers. That’s its focus, as a putdown from that perspective; portraying a man who works a low paying job, can’t get women, commits the sins of gambling and drinking. Unstated but implied is that this is about a failure of achievement that is at its core financial, that positions himself above them both by being rich and doing fucked up things that are by his logic “meaningful”.
The OP comic is kind of an interesting contrast to that, making a similar point, but about a woman with a successful career, where that success might not hold much meaning.
I have to say I totally disagree with the idea but this is really good writing.
If I may add, to some people, connecting to nature is their “real life”, while building empires and going on adventurous journeys is but a struggle they have to endure.
Been meaning to contact my teachers. Telling myself after I finish community college, after I get into the uni I want, and after I get my internship. I have now done those things and have not contacted my teachers out of fear of disappointment.
No harm in messaging them just to say thank you.
If you’ve just stepped out of uni into an internship you still have a lot to go, but getting through college, uni and into an internship is an achievement in itself. They won’t be disappointed, they will probably be proud that the work they did encouraged you to stay in education for as long as you did!
I’m still in uni with an internship
I always wanted to contact my French teacher and tell him I’m now married to a French woman, and how I found the love of my life because of the language he taught me… Well, I waited too long.
The truth here that many people won’t get is that you can start your life anytime you want. Waiting for a good menu option to click on doesn’t work. In my early 20s I was an introverted, anxiety-ridden computer geek. Then I took a community college acting class and discovered my passion for theatre - did acting, stage design, lighting, directing… it created almost an instant social life, tons of friends and looking forward to every day. My job became just a necessary detail, my real life was after work.
Anyway I encourage everyone to figure out how to get their life started. Doesn’t matter what the economy is like or your personal history or circumstances - it’s not you - nobody’s life has ever cared if they lived it or not.
Just hit my mid 30s. Feeling like working hard only gets your more hard work. Not that I’m in a bad spot but for real what does it all mean
The trick is enjoying mundane tasks or the simple things like your walk to work.
“Only in death does duty end.”
This shit really gets to me but not in a way you might expect.
I’m extremely content in life. It amazes me there are so many of you that just aren’t happy existing. Every day is what you make of it and if you live life as glass half full no amount of milestones is going to fill it.
There is something to be said about simplicity. It can be as little as appreciating the sun on your face but you need to be open to appreciate it.
Life only has meaning when you give it meaning and the longer you hold off doing that then empty you shall remain.
It took me until my early 30s before I realized this. It’s time to begin. Let’s do this!
(Next year I am going to go travelling to Paris and likely Amsterdam too)
This seems relevant -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsAd4HGJS4o
TLDW: You have to change your mindset. Do not accept the default, be mindful and self-aware.
These days, mostly panicking about getting everything on the bucket list set up. I’ve let too much just fly by already.
