The text does not, for instance, encourage not having a job. It also does not encourage being nothing at all. Being nothing special is quite different.
Recommended movie: perfect days https://youtu.be/wqUT9hQd1XM?is=v1x85FdKOK_zfu60
Annoyed that npc is not defined in the post. Non-playing character.
Related, I would also recommend the book "The courage to be disliked"
Escapism. You SHOULD feel like you have to do some stuff. Our bodies are always aiming to relax, because conserving calories is an extremely effective survival method. We are hardwired to do nothing, in order to escape the burden of instead doing something.
This word keeps coming up, coupled with things unrelated.
The OP isn't saying "do nothing". He's saying "do what you want to do". If he wants to study mathematics, that's neither escapism nor "doing nothing".
If I didn’t enjoy yard care, I wouldn’t have a yard or I’d xeriscape or gravel + trees, or something. Laundry’s kind of a drag, mostly the folding part. Most of the time I enjoy cooking and tidying up afterwards; when I’m not in the mood I’ll do takeout or throw something from the freezer in.
I’m not sure what you’re saying overall? Is it that those things you’ve listed are what stops people from having enjoyable lives where they do what they want?
I’ll rephrase a little bit because “not give a shit” is maybe too flippant and what you’re saying is important context: if you have a family and responsibilities, framing it in terms of the article, that is one version of the NPC life and you’re going to be way better at it if you actually like it. If you feel like your constant responsibilities to your family are a burden and are getting in the way of doing what you want to be doing, that’s going to show up everywhere.
I was definitely raised with a “happy wife, happy life” mentality and a few years ago I smashed that whole notion to pieces for myself, not because it’s wrong but because the implementation I was taught was wrong. I understood it as “she’s going to want you to do a bunch of stuff that you don’t want to do, and the key to a happy life is to do it anyway.” As it turns out, in my experience, genuinely enthusiastic yesses and clear “no, not interested” is a way better approach. She trusts your yes way more if she trusts your ability to say no. Turns out that knowing she’s with someone who knows what he wants and doesn’t want, and has enough of a spine to say and act accordingly, is a key component to both “happy wife” and “happy life”.
If you’ve got family responsibilities and they feel like a heavy burden, it’s probably worth spending some time really reflecting on that and figuring out what needs to change.
- cut the grass -> robot
- weed the flowerbeds -> once every week, or no flowerbeds if you feel it's not necessary
- wash the car -> idk I wash mine every 6 months or something. Go to the thingy, put coin, wait
- cook dinner -> or not. You could choose not to have dinner at all, or one of those fine premade gazpachos with a bit of bred and an egg
- do the dishes -> mostly putting things in a dishwasher and removing them every few days
The thing is, having a mind mostly empty of this kind of thing is its own reward. Maybe your car is less shiny, but your inner experience more so.
No one here is saying they’re going to stop clipping their nails or feeding themselves. If that’s how you interpreted the article, you’re being uncharitable.
I mean, sure, I wash the car every so many months because I take a road trip and can't get stuff off my windshield.
Washing cars is one of those absolutely pointless things people do that the article is alluding to. It is not supposed to be clean.
The guy who takes a bike ride after work until sunset has either done some planning and dealt with the chores to free up that time, or he's a selfish inconsiderate who's letting the other people in his life shoulder the externalities of his self-indulgence. Sure most chores can wait a bit, so some amount of spontaneity is OK, but it can't be a regular way of living.
Cleaning the (exterior) of the car is something so many people do primarily because of judgmental folks like yourself. They don't care about a lot of dust on their cars, but they feel they have to because of what others think. The point of the post is to stop caring what such folks think. They definitely are not your friends.
His sentiment is a common one amongst much older folks. "Don't care too much what others think" is a fairly common advice they give. You'll put in a lot of effort and get very little in return.
Same goes for yard stuff. One of the things I looked at when I bought my house was how the neighborhood's yards were. Some were very "well kept". Others were clearly not. I bought the house because of the latter - it told me the neighborhood doesn't care that much, which is a good thing. Maintaining yards is one of the more wasteful acts in life (unless it happens to be your hobby).
https://blog.nwf.org/2024/04/why-we-shouldnt-have-lawns/
(My yard is actually well maintained, because I pay a guy to do it - if I can't afford him, though, it's going downhill).
> or he's a selfish inconsiderate who's letting the other people in his life shoulder the externalities of his self-indulgence.
Hey, if my dusty car bothers you - by all means come over and clean it.
I don't care about your dusty car. By all means don't wash it for me. But if your wife cares, and she's driving a dirty car because you go bike riding after work every day, then you might want to reconsider. Again, that's just an example.
I'm reminded of a quote, something along the lines of "if we all did the little things we know we are supposed to do, most of our big problems would take care of themselves"
> have a boring job. do nothing after work. why do you have to do something after work? do something because you feel like doing it, not because you feel like you have to.
Are you suggesting he has a boring job because he wants to have a boring job?
> I'm reminded of a quote, something along the lines of "if we all did the little things we know we are supposed to do, most of our big problems would take care of themselves"
The reason old people give the advice I mentioned is because they tried this approach and it backfired.
One of the major markers of my maturity was switching away from: "Well, if everyone does X, things would be better" to "What is the Y that will improve things the most, given that we know not everyone is going to do it?"
Having a system that only works well when (almost) everyone plays nice usually fails. Search instead for robustness: What system works well when a decent percentage don't adhere to it?
There's a reason communism lost.
obviously not.
In any context, this is about as trivially false as any non-tautological statement can be.
They are not ready to help because normal life is designed to be absurdly complicated, time consuming, constraining and draining.
The irony is that the solution is for people to take up massive projects that address the many angles of needless complexity [again]
Gregor: It would be nice to do something.
Sam: We are doing something. We're sitting here, waiting.
"Ronin", 1998
And I'm just tired...all the time. I do nothing and still I'm exhausted.
Unfortunately I have no advice for it but I wish you good luck. We're all struggling lately
So many other things are possible like iron, thyroid, sleep apnea, ADHD, depression or burnout, long COVID, tropical illness. Maybe more.
Finally it is totally morally OK not to be a 100% productive worker bee. A "cure" is not necessary but might be worth rabbit holing if you desire and have the energy.
You have authority over your body. You can tell it to do things it doesn't want to.
You can walk into your bathroom and take a cold shower right now, on purpose. Your body doesn't want to, but it will yield if your mind tells it to.
In fact, doing that will switch up your state into a different one, which is half of the work needed to feel better.
This isn't the answer for everyone, but for 90% of people, it moves the needle in the right direction.
Personally I enjoy listening to the birds with a book in my hands.
On my HN!? Surprised pikachu
Surprised pikachu :OOOO
Having grown up in a small town, I can confirm this. The smaller the town, the more it becomes true that almost everyone in town has either heard of you from a friend or relative, or knows you directly. :)
In the real world, stasis gets you killed. Someone is paid hundreds of thousands of dollars (maybe millions) to find out if you can be made to pay more in rent, accept higher air fares or hotel fees, work longer hours, or accept lower wages. You can’t choose not to be part of the war. You either fight and accept intolerable stress, or you don’t fight and you still accept intolerable stress.
Arguably a reason most everyone found the early internet/web so awesome: it wasn't as commoditized into feeds and platforms. You were an adventurer on an undiscovered planet, a secret life beside the boring real one and just did your thing. It's how most of us ended up here, anyhow.
Maybe, but that could also be because of autism, trauma or some other disability
And maybe the author just wants to feel heard, get others to comment on their experiences, be vulnerable in public (which btw can be pretty stressful too), and connect with their community
That’s a stretch and in realm of pure speculation.
A blacksmith is useful for society and for himself. It’s a profession and it’s not anything. OP’s point is that profession compared to chasing dragons. I’m tired of chasing dragons and very happy focusing on my own life.
When AI eventually takes nearly ALL jobs, that will be a quite difficult thing.
So status quo lol?
it's the age old advice of "dont give a fuck" dressed up in some modern terminology ("npc")
> needed
If I died today, I wouldn't even get a slack memo "we miss anal_reactor". Modern economy proved that humans are totally fungible.
> wanted
I have a dream that someone would take me on a date. But I understand it's just a silly fantasy.
> useful
I spent last two years at work doing projects that went nowhere because my manager is deaf to feedback.
> accountable
What is that even supposed to mean? If I don't pay taxes I'll go to jail.
> social
I tried inviting a neighbor for a beer. Didn't work.
I can't tell what's happening here...
Did we all extract a different conclusion/meaning from the piece?
Did a bunch of people discover the same new word recently, and are learning to use it?
Did people not read the full post perhaps, and jumped to conclusions?
I don't think the author is advocating or engaging in escapism here... Did I misunderstand the post?
By that you mean American? Or German? Or French? Or Nordic? They were very different a generation ago.
Or like the fascist subculture? The pro-Russian one? The liberal one?
life is measured by individual achievement, self-actualization through work, being ordinary is failure as you're supposed to present and perform. none of those cultures differ much on that, though maybe on how much you're allowed to express preferences vs. that.
why does this thread read as escapism to so many? because it's a cultural norm people are not aware of, and it gets violated.
That is very American, even specifically American right wing masculinity point of view. Not generalized western one.
> none of those cultures differ much on that, though maybe on how much you're allowed to express preferences vs. that.
Oh yeah, they do differ on that exact point by a lot.
The truth is that after the brief initial relief of excusing yourself from being anything at all, you'll end up in a deep depression. It's a naive and immature fantasy.
Remove all electronics from your life, they are a constant nervous system stimulator that has prevented you from truly relaxing into a state of repair. Then introduce responsibilities into your life, start small. We are wired to be needed, wanted, useful, accountable, social. You're just stressed out.