5 ms·

One thing I've found profoundly useful is not thinking of the world as set up against me, but more so that I'm my own worst enemy. I'm set up against myself. N

One thing I've found profoundly useful is not thinking of the world as set up against me, but more so that I'm my own worst enemy. I'm set up against myself. Nothing external will change, so there's no sense fretting about my environment naturally suiting my psychology, because that'll never happen. That's a fantasy. I'd code til 3am too (and have, far too many times) but I've come to believe my job in the present is all about setting up future me for success. Present me tends to have shitty ideas about what to do in the present, but plenty of great ideas about what I should have done in the past or should do in the future. Without being critical of present me, I'm likely to fuck things up properly. I need to focus on the scaffolding for those great ideas for future me and less on the shitty ones for present me. That guy is already a lost cause. My strategy is one of delayed gratification, which my brain hates. I lay down with a book at 9 or 10pm because it'll put me to sleep in a hurry even though my brain is typically WIRED when I lay down. Yeah it doesn't feel like bed time, but it sure as shit is bed time. I'll do other things like keep shitty food out of my home, because otherwise I'll find really good reasons to eat (too much) of it. I put EVERYTHING in my calendar because although present me is positive future me will remember, that's totally incorrect and I actually do need frequent reminders of pretty much everything I'm not immediately focused on or interested in. I leave my phone behind because even though I'm sure I won't use it too much, yeah, I definitely will. Expect the worst from yourself and prepare accordingly. So, the world isn't my problem, I am! I'm my worst enemy. The path to defeating myself is doing a lot of stuff I don't feel like doing. I like this approach because rather than being mad at the world for my failures, I'm forced to do something about it. That's my experience, anyway.

salt-thrower 5y ago
> Nothing external will change Decades of activism disagree. One example: people in wheelchairs used to be called "invalids" and pretty much couldn't get anywhere in public. Then the ADA was signed, and public spaces are much more accessible as a result. A healthy balance between stoic acceptance and dutiful activism is the optimal approach, I think.
- quantumBerry 5y ago
  >One example: people in wheelchairs used to be called "invalids" and pretty much couldn't get anywhere in public. I suppose all the photographs of President Franklin Roosevelt traveling all across the world, entering the governor's office and ultimately the whitehouse were fakes since these all happened before the ADA. The fact one of our very active presidents was confined to a wheelchair really puts a hole in your ADA theory of invalids.
  - bcassedy 5y ago
    Is your counterpoint really that FDR was able to go places in public? He notoriously hid his disability with a combination of canes, braces, and family members to hold him upright and even simulate walking. He also had a tremendous amount of power and money to force or provide his own special accommodations. Like having an army of secret service agents to help him deal with stairs.
    - quantumBerry 5y ago
      I quote you as follows: people in wheelchairs "pretty much couldn't get anywhere in public." I assert that you are quite wrong, and I provide you an example of it happening. We shouldn't discount his achievements.
      - bcassedy 5y ago
        "People pretty much couldn't go to space" "Well actually Richard Branson went to space. That puts a big hole in your people pretty much couldn't go to space argument now doesn't it!?" The example of a single person with nearly endless resources accomplishing something does nothing to refute a point about the masses. Heck, the "pretty much" qualifier is an acknowledgement that some people got around despite their condition. I assert that you are not discussing this in good faith and won't be engaging with you further.
        quantumBerry 5y ago
echelon 5y ago
> I'm set up against myself. You're not the problem. The world is. Don't blame yourself.
- steve_adams_86 5y ago
  The world is too dynamic, complex, contextual, and varied to really nail down any facet of it as problematic and then resolve that problem. The world largely is what it is and it’s more my job to find a way to thrive in it than it is the world’s job to accommodate me. That’s how I see it. I don’t blame myself - I don’t even blame myself for blaming the world in the past either. I suppose there really is no blame to place by any practical means to any practical effect.
  - shadowgovt 5y ago
    The most relevant question is "What do I have the power to improve?" Sometimes, via activism and organization, it's the state of the world. Sometimes, via discipline and planning, it's one's own interface on to the world, The winning plan is flexibility.

salt-thrower 5y ago

> Nothing external will change Decades of activism disagree. One example: people in wheelchairs used to be called "invalids" and pretty much couldn't get anywhere in public. Then the ADA was signed, and public spaces are much more accessible as a result. A healthy balance between stoic acceptance and dutiful activism is the optimal approach, I think.

quantumBerry 5y ago
>One example: people in wheelchairs used to be called "invalids" and pretty much couldn't get anywhere in public. I suppose all the photographs of President Franklin Roosevelt traveling all across the world, entering the governor's office and ultimately the whitehouse were fakes since these all happened before the ADA. The fact one of our very active presidents was confined to a wheelchair really puts a hole in your ADA theory of invalids.
- bcassedy 5y ago
  Is your counterpoint really that FDR was able to go places in public? He notoriously hid his disability with a combination of canes, braces, and family members to hold him upright and even simulate walking. He also had a tremendous amount of power and money to force or provide his own special accommodations. Like having an army of secret service agents to help him deal with stairs.
  - quantumBerry 5y ago
    I quote you as follows: people in wheelchairs "pretty much couldn't get anywhere in public." I assert that you are quite wrong, and I provide you an example of it happening. We shouldn't discount his achievements.
    - bcassedy 5y ago
      "People pretty much couldn't go to space" "Well actually Richard Branson went to space. That puts a big hole in your people pretty much couldn't go to space argument now doesn't it!?" The example of a single person with nearly endless resources accomplishing something does nothing to refute a point about the masses. Heck, the "pretty much" qualifier is an acknowledgement that some people got around despite their condition. I assert that you are not discussing this in good faith and won't be engaging with you further.
      - quantumBerry 5y ago

echelon 5y ago

> I'm set up against myself. You're not the problem. The world is. Don't blame yourself.

steve_adams_86 5y ago
The world is too dynamic, complex, contextual, and varied to really nail down any facet of it as problematic and then resolve that problem. The world largely is what it is and it’s more my job to find a way to thrive in it than it is the world’s job to accommodate me. That’s how I see it. I don’t blame myself - I don’t even blame myself for blaming the world in the past either. I suppose there really is no blame to place by any practical means to any practical effect.
- shadowgovt 5y ago
  The most relevant question is "What do I have the power to improve?" Sometimes, via activism and organization, it's the state of the world. Sometimes, via discipline and planning, it's one's own interface on to the world, The winning plan is flexibility.