The other night I was watching Jim & Andy – The Great Beyond.
This stuck out:
“I find it all so abstract….everything are these abstract structures that you’re given and they are supposed to hold you together somehow…I don’t need to be held together.”
A lot of who we are was established long before we were born. Lots of archaic and arbitrary rules for the art of being a human. Yet, you can be anything you want. Why not break all the rules?
I came across a story this morning about how stressed-out students in China are pretending to be birds. I am fascinated by the youth cultures of East Asian countries and the growing subculture of people who have just…had it. They’re done. Tang Ping – lying flat – they call it. Worldwide, we are among the first generations who will likely not do as well as their parents.
Why hustle if the fruits aren’t there?
You look tired. You should lay down, have a nap, and do pretty much anything other than hustle for the dollar. Tomorrow isn’t a promise.
Tang Ping started making the rounds through the international press right before the pandemic, and I feel like the mindset laid the groundwork for the wave of “quiet quitting” during the pandemic. Today, there is a sense of “normalcy” that we were all dying to get back to, even if it is a new normal. But the systems were shocked by the global lock in – personal, emotional, financial.
Expectations will always fail you. May as well enjoy this while we’re still here.