Most of us didn’t grow up dreaming we would be doing the type of work we do today. That’s because the work we do didn’t really exist just 30 years ago. That’s how fast we are changing. The work we finish our careers may not even exist yet either. Forget it for this rising generation.
So, we can look to hold on tight to what we know. Or we can be loose and move freely. Adapt.
Sisyphus was condemned to push a boulder up a mountain for all eternity. Once he got to the top, the boulder would just roll down, and he would have to start again.
Most of them read that and think, what a horrible hell.
But I think it is a metaphor for our lives. We all have a struggle. We all have a boulder. And when we reach the top, there is nothing to do but start over.
I think its an opportunity to reframe the adversity we find in this life. Accepting it as part of the human condition. The struggle is the struggle, but we get to define it. Not the absence of it.
Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club, wrote, “On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.”
I think that can be expanded to “everything.” Empires, cultures, traditions, and even ideas come and go. It is part of the life cycle.
And while that can seem depressing, it can also be a reminder that the things we are so frustrated with–well, they won’t last forever either.
If things were to stay the same, slavery would still be here. The point is that we can evolve and change. Sometimes for the better. Sometimes, for the worse. What’s constant is the change itself.
“If you could change one thing that would save hundreds of thousands of lives, would you do it?“
“Well, yeah?“
“Great.”
“Make it so cars cannot travel more than 10 miles per hour.”
If we were to do such a thing it would no doubt reduce the amount of accidents and save countless lives going forward. Except we all tolerate a certain level of risk. And for ours it’s a much higher speed limit.
We could change the fines and make mandatory jail time for breaking traffic laws but we don’t cause as a culture we decide that is not how we want to govern ourselves.
And it isn’t just with speed limits. It the same with mask wearing or the food industry.
We all allow a certain level of risk but if we go to extreme measures we would reduce the toll on life. But we don’t always value life the most in the decisions we make. Despite what we think.
They live in our imaginations.
Which means we can shape them to be all sorts of things.
But it also means they can carry around the biases and prejudices we carry too.
Is the one we give.
Because more stuff isn’t what we need.
What we need is the feeling of being connected.
And that cost nothing but our time and energy.
What is left when we strip away the brand of clothes we wear, the neighborhood we live in, the job we go to, the car we drive…what’s left?
I think this type of process of thought gets us closer to the heart of the really interesting question.
Like what it means to be human?
Listening has nothing to do with the response we are preparing in our head.
Listening is the art form of extending our compassion and empathy we have to others.
That each of us can become like a factory. Further cementing the corporation right to survive.
You don’t need to look far to see podcasters amplifying this message.
“Ubi dubium ibi libertas.”
(“Where there is doubt, there is freedom.”)
— Latin Proverb
We have built so much of our world on habits. To create predictable outcomes. Doubt opens the door of possibility. Doubt also creates tension. We build the culture to solve this, thinking it can go away. But it possibly can’t.
The alternative to create this tension, embrace it, and lean into it.
Josh Allred's Blog 