In capitalist society, humans default to consumption.
It’s accessible and attractive.
Per Tyler Durden…
Advertising has us chasing not just cars and clothes, but anything you can slap a price tag on. And that’s a lot of things.
As for working jobs we hate? Gratefully, right now, I can’t comment on this.
But to buy shit we don’t need? This feels like another truth.
Why is it draining even when we’re buying the very things that keep us alive?
Because we’re tied so closely all of the consumption, the eating, reading, scrolling and listening, and we have very little to balance it out.
When I’m at my loneliest, like I am now, on the other side of the world with everyone I know having flown back to or remained in the general area of my upbringing, I feel this the most.
Lonely consumption is hell. You stand, as
put it…“…in front of the metabolic waste of my existence, materialized. I was looking at the amount of my time, therefore my life, that had been turned into garbage. And the worst part is that I could’ve prevented it.”
The solution is violent creation.
And it’s not up to me to decide what this is.
Maybe you write, maybe you draw or sing.
Either way, what’s important is just that you put something out into the world.
For me, this has almost always been by making something to share on the internet. It could be writing, like you read here at
, but it’s also the photos and videos I share on channels that aren’t as popular.It’s also the moments that I share with other people.
By turning up as my best self (or trying my hardest to), I hope to create a contribution to others’ lives, improving not just the experience for myself, but for them as well.
And this is fulfilling.
I wrote a long time ago about how “I’d take having dinner or drinks in a back street with a couple of people I’d recently met over standing in front of the Colosseum alone”.
Although, since I’ve been travelling this year, I’ve done better at sharing the day-to-day things with more people than just my inner critic, I once again need to listen to the signals the world keeps broadcasting and reminding me of.
What this means is (when I’m not doing things offline with others) a stronger resurgence to creating content from me, whether this is business stuff, which I’ll be doing in the week when my office is open, or photos, videos, essays and other miscellanea that I’ll make under my personal brand on the weekend.
It takes real effort to change the defaults. But when I do manage to look up for long enough to realise that giving is the answer, and not taking, and when I go about doing so, I feel clearer and more fulfilled.