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I think you are conflating “unreasonable” with “unhappy”. It’s absolutely possible to have unreasonably high standards/expectations for “how things should be”

I think you are conflating “unreasonable” with “unhappy”. It’s absolutely possible to have unreasonably high standards/expectations for “how things should be” and fight super hard for change/progress, while still being a happy person.

lazide 5y ago
Really? I haven’t seen it very often.
FeepingCreature 5y ago
Fighting for change profits from desperation at the state of the world, which tends to be incompatible with happiness. It can work out, of course.
- coldtea 5y ago
  On the contary, it's people that have a purpose who are the happiest - and can shrug off almost anything that comes their way...
endymi0n 5y ago
With everything I've learned so far, this perfectly describes the core struggle of success and entrepreneurship. In order to have massive success, you need a constant state of both unreasonableness and optimism. Unreasonableness drives results and change, optimism inspires people to rally around your cause. If you're not unreasonable, chances are you aren't striving for more. There's lots of people out there living a perfectly happy, unremarkable life. If you're unreasonable, that's by definition an unhappiness with the world, which creates a drive to change it. If that unreasonableness creeps to much into your life, you get unhappy as well. If the happiness creeps too much into your unreasonableness, you start losing your edge, the very drive that made all of it happen. That's why you see so few truly happy billionaires and so many deeply happy people who are never even trying to make a larger impact on thousands. It's certainly possible to balance both, but it's a very fine line to walk and constant personal development.
jka 5y ago
I like Shaw's quote, and it probably summarises much of his life experience at the time. I'd also like to argue that I think it should be possible to be happy, reasonable, and change the world for the better. Not easy perhaps, and persistence is still required, but doable.

lazide 5y ago

Really? I haven’t seen it very often.

FeepingCreature 5y ago

Fighting for change profits from desperation at the state of the world, which tends to be incompatible with happiness. It can work out, of course.

coldtea 5y ago
On the contary, it's people that have a purpose who are the happiest - and can shrug off almost anything that comes their way...

endymi0n 5y ago

With everything I've learned so far, this perfectly describes the core struggle of success and entrepreneurship. In order to have massive success, you need a constant state of both unreasonableness and optimism. Unreasonableness drives results and change, optimism inspires people to rally around your cause. If you're not unreasonable, chances are you aren't striving for more. There's lots of people out there living a perfectly happy, unremarkable life. If you're unreasonable, that's by definition an unhappiness with the world, which creates a drive to change it. If that unreasonableness creeps to much into your life, you get unhappy as well. If the happiness creeps too much into your unreasonableness, you start losing your edge, the very drive that made all of it happen. That's why you see so few truly happy billionaires and so many deeply happy people who are never even trying to make a larger impact on thousands. It's certainly possible to balance both, but it's a very fine line to walk and constant personal development.

jka 5y ago

I like Shaw's quote, and it probably summarises much of his life experience at the time. I'd also like to argue that I think it should be possible to be happy, reasonable, and change the world for the better. Not easy perhaps, and persistence is still required, but doable.