The Importance of the Odyssey
Adversity in the time of abundance.
I remember when the struggle used to be mean something — now people just think it’s pointless...
Those engaged in the struggle never separated the struggling with the achieving, it was one and the same. And it served a purpose: It was to sharpen and sculpt you into being worthy.
No Pressure, No Diamonds
But massive economic and technological advancement short circuited this process. Why work for something when you can just get the outcome on demand?
Why take the high road when you can take shortcuts?
This includes anything from the seemingly most simple to the most complicated — from getting a meal to writing a book. And no, I am not telling you to go out there and fish or hunt to have something to eat…
But have you realised how dependent we have become to things outside our control?
Have you even started to think what the “unintended consequences” of all these comforts are?
Instead of socialising in the real world, we “socialise” in the digital world.
Instead of going out and living our life — we scroll instagram living someone else’s.
Instead of holding a thought in our head and working with it, we just google it.
Instead of allowing ourselves to become bored for so long that our mind is forced to become creative and resourceful — we just mindlessly entertain ourselves by passively consuming the internet.
Instead of reading 13 (or even 130) books, putting their ideas together and using endless pieces of paper jotting down thoughts and things until we arrive at a Eureka! moment…
We use AI Chatbots to tell us what the answer is.
Where is the fulfilment in that?
I could go on forever, but you get the gist. By skipping the process and going straight to the outcome, we miss out on all the positives that the process has to offer.
And remember that this do not only apply to technology — this applies to everything.
Want more examples?
If you just inherited the money, you’re probably not fit to manage it.
If somehow “success” was just given to you — you don’t actually have success.
If you used Chat GPT to get you through university, your degree is worth less than nothing.
This time of profound lack of difficulty has turned people into useless weaklings. And if that were not all, they are more self entitled than ever before. The less work they put in — the more they feel the world owes them.
Reinforcing Nothingness
And for some, this seems to be working. There was never an era where you could get so much by doing so little.
In the olden days, to conquer new lands you had to captain a ship and travel around the globe or become a fighter and risk your life in battle.
Today you can just conquer the world by buying the next Meme Coin that will do a 100X, or find the next way to cheat the system.
And because the few have been lucky enough to get this — now everyone wants something for nothing.
“Success without fulfilment is the ultimate failure.” —Tony Robbins
Ithaca
But success is something you get with time and pain, not something you order on delivery.
It took Ulysses 20 years to get to Ithaca, why should it take you any less?
WHO NEEDS TO HEAR THIS
People that seem to feel that they deserve everything
Newsletter: selfcaresupremacy.com
Short but full of meaning