This has probably, so far, been the two worst weeks of my life this year. Knee-deep in deadlines. Which was interrupted by what even I hoped to be a nice social event. But alas, closing in on the weekend of this second week of hell, I’m exhausted and absolutely drained of energy and motivation to do anything.
As I was doing the dishes I let my mind drift off for a bit, thinking about how we humans let ourselves end up in a situation like this. Wondering why we willingly put ourselves through this kind of hell, again and again.
This reminded me of that we still live in an extroverted world and that it’s getting worse thanks to social networking services.
It seems the favourite stereotype is the person that is full of energy, never sits still, surrounds him/her-self with people, goes to social events, stays connected online, etc. In other words, this is what normal should be like.
While if you are the person that likes, and needs, some quiet time, not afraid to say no to a party now and then, might not spend all his/her time online, etc, ie an introvert; is a boring person that needs help to get out more and become more active.
Of course it’s very easy to only blame this on introvert vs extrovert stereotyping and social network services, but if you think about it, this is not a new problem. The delusion that you need to move fast to get things done or else you’ll always be last or come short of life is an old idea that seems to not want to die.
Yet we still continue to make the mistake that the person with the most friends, whom is always lively and makes quick decisions is the most successful person.
There is a fable written by Aesop, which is believed to have lived between 620 and 560 BCE. A fable most of us, hopefully, know as The Tortoise and the Hare. Where the proverb “slow and steady wins the race” comes from.
After so many years, decades, centuries, even millenniums, we still don’t get it. We try to juggle 10 to 20 balls in the air at once. Those who try to avoid doing that, not wanting to have up to 20 balls come crashing down on them like a ton of bricks, are told to do so, because it’s expected of them, or else their weird, boring and lazy.
We have one life and it’s important to make the most of it. But we need to stop living as if everyday we wake up is the last day on this earth.
It seems as if we’ll never learn from Aesop’s fable about the tortoise and the hare. Our fear of missing out on things will be the death of us.
