Missing Out: In Praise of the Unlived Life
The details differ from person to person, but the kernel is the same. We recoil from the notion that this is it—that this life, with all its flaws and inescapable vulnerabilities, its extreme brevity, and our limited influence over how it unfolds, is the only one we’ll get a shot at. Instead, we mentally fight against the way things are—so that, in
... See moreOliver Burkeman • Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals
One part of us may want the butterfly thought to elude us so we won’t have to face up to a regret or loss. If we took a given new idea seriously, we might have to abandon a relationship, leave a job, ditch a friend, apologise to someone, rethink our sexuality or break a habit.
The School of Life • How to Think More Effectively: A guide to greater productivity, insight and creativity (Work series)
There is always something else to strive for – and this keeps most of us in a constant, sometimes painful, state of never-satisfied striving. And that striving for something that we do not yet possess is called desire. Desire doesn’t bring us joy because it is, by definition, always for something we feel we lack.
Aeon • How to Know What You Really Want | Psyche Guides
Even when we think we’re seeking pleasure, we’re actually driven by the desire to free ourselves from the pain of wanting.