Why We Do The Shit We Do
Capital Thinking • Issue #363 • View online
They say that a behavior stays alive because it serves you in some way.
AKA, If you’re eating the entire fridge, it might be because you actually hate your work and you’re trying to escape it any way you can, because YOU ARE TIRED AND YOU NEED A BREAK BUT YOU’RE TOO MUCH OF A GOOD GIRL TO GIVE YOURSELF ONE.
-Ash Ambirge
The Middle Finger Project, by Ash Ambirge:
*smooths skirt*
I think about this often.
Like, while I have Downton Abbey reruns playing in the background, and the neighbors are downstairs having a toga party, I’m over here pondering why we do the shit we do. Because we do a lot of distressing shit, don’t we?
We stay in jobs we don’t like.
We say yes to things we aren’t excited about.
We don’t always try as hard as we could.
We work with clients we actually sorta kinda…despise?
We procrastinate starting the new website.
We spend our days doing things that are entirely forgettable.
We lose our lives to obligation.
We fail to make the change.
The common explanation is that we’re scared—wah, wah, wah, WAH. That we really want to try, but we’re crippled with fear—even though life could be better.
My theory is this: in some small, twisted way, these fuck magnets are making our lives better. They are serving us in some way, even if it’s not obvious, and even if it hurts us in other ways.
*Featured post photo by shannon VanDenHeuvel on Unsplash