I wish there was a “save changes button” at the end of the day
By: Varun Choraria
Tags: Personal Growth, Personal Development, Life Hacking, Mental Models, Life Lessons

9 months into the pandemic, it’s wishful thinking to assume that come new year, the puppeteer will hit the magic reset button and all will revert back to normalcy. But in retrospect this escapist mindset doesn’t matter as much largely due to the fact that we still remained connected with loved ones and colleagues through. Perhaps this is how hard it is to acclimatise as you climb higher both in the dimensions of time and success?

But, in all probability- our collective species still made the valiant effort of finding light at the end of the tunnel- with a common theme-”progress”. Why? Because even in such times of peril, the entire race still wanted to keep the bubble of perception of progress and happiness intact, majorly using 4G and 5G connection.

Live or Let die?

The world is materially more abundant than ever but despite that, people aren’t reporting higher levels of happiness. Sure, the pandemic year was a mixed bag- we’re closer to our families now, but yet again we’ve fallen prey to the root cause of all evils-progress. History has been witness to the many variety of ways in which humanity has hooked up with different ideas of progress.

When religions emerged, progress was regular deity-worship, being moral and going to heaven. Life after death was gossip in cocktail and goat or virgin sacrificing get-togethers. At this point I do hope middlemen in the travel industry at that point in time offered group discounts for advanced bookings. A couple of centuries later, science came along. Yes, that was confused for witchcraft a lot, perhaps still is- but it very powerfully moved the spotlight to having a prosperous life before death.

Animal sacrifice was the byproduct of an era that held religious progress as the entire civilization’s north star metric. And on the flipside- when science came along, the reaction left precipitates of many -isms: liberalism, feminism, capitalism, communism, fascism, patriotism, environmentalism, consumerism and humanitarianism (shoutout to paras here for tweeting this and making it easier for me to ctrl C + ctrl V).

The flaw in the plan

Despite both these polarized ideologies, the fact remains that we’ve always been in a relentless pursuit of a better world. How do they start? Like an obsessive, parasitical latch onto some specific, fractured flat in the serendipity in the world.

Capitalism, for example, started with the freedom of choice. Environmentalism was all about caring for nature. Feminism is about equality of both sexes. Pure intent, right?

But here’s the underlying flaw- such idealogical adherents- science, religion, -isms- genuinely believe that they hold keys to some utopia. Here’s the cruel joke- whenever humans adopted any such “progressive” visions, all we got was the many horrors in Soviet Russia, the dropping of nuclear bombs by “freedom-loving” America. I personally think the only good thing that came out of it was political satire.❤ U BORAT!

Progress is linear, reality is emergent

As we’re writing this, we’re in talks with Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan and many directors to make this title into some mind-bending film. If anyone reading this is related to Charlie Brooker, then we’re also trying for an episode for S6 of Black Mirror.

SO, as we collectively pursue progress, we tend to become angry at the loss that we’re incapable of anticipating at the time of conceiving our progressive visions.

Think of this- pre-COVID, most us bought into the idea of greatness and set ourselves to keep scaling professional heights. But, in this “zero year” that we’ve had, our retrospective minds tell us that this one dimensional pursuit came at the cost of social bonding with family and friends.

Our brains are wired to absorb more from stories as it brings with it a lot of flavors- facts, drama, suspense, etc- therefore enabling our brain to absorb and think on it more laterally. Like fireflies, we’re attracted to few simple ideas that a particular worldview is better than another, perhaps slightly more complex and nuanced worldview.

Life’s ultimate 2x2

No matter what your worldview is, life is a good game that allows players to develop it’s own playing styles. There are mainly two types of people in the world:

People who push the world around and get that they want. These are the kind of people that can create and retain wealth. People who are pushed around by others to get what others want. This is where most people fall.

Fuck this, at times we’ve all contemplated interning at an ashram to become a monk purely because that feels like a much better way to live. But, here’s where you’re probably wrong again: the monk’s way of living is mainly centered around practicing non-reaction to everything that life throws at you, while living in the present is basically enjoying everything that life throws at you.

Sometimes even those damn hard ball lemons chucked at your 3rd rib.

A lot of you have likely picked up new habits and rethought your purpose in life and career, with the ample luxury of extra time we’ve had. But, if you’re still confused, that’s okay.

People who are in the middle part of the 2x2 tend to suffer from this cognitive confusion, as opposed to the staunch hedonist minds thriving at either end of the spectrum.

Even so, there’s still really no right way to live, no right way of thinking about progress or happiness. Define your own worldview- your preferred way of living, your choice of linens, your choice to either live like a monk or die trying to dent the universe.

Neither is nobler than the other. Think your own thoughts.

It’s super tempting to pick a quadrant and play like it’s a game of Ludo- but that won’t inherently change the way you decide to engage with the rest of the world.

That said, we’d encourage you to explore all the modes, from time to time. Every level of life brings it’s own set of variables far from our control. Until 2020, all our new year’s resolutions were about asking for new things.

This year it’s going to be inclined towards being thankful for the things we already have 🙂

YOLO, BRO.

Don’t panic if you relate more to memes this year vs. some biographical figure. It’s alright if you’re questioning your life choices and everything else under the blue sky, like I am, at 23. While I’m nearing my 40th birthday in my mind, it’s a good reminder that progress and happiness only make sense when you forget that you were questioning the world and the definitions of it in the first place.

Why? Because you’ll have your own then.