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It's important to recognize that life is path-dependent. But as a counter-point, worrying too much about each decision as a potential mistake can lead to the ki
by npilk 2y ago
It's important to recognize that life is path-dependent. But as a counter-point, worrying too much about each decision as a potential mistake can lead to the kind of fear-based paralysis described by Sylvia Plath in the Bell Jar:
"I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet."
- polishdude20 2y agoI think a meta analysis of this is that the character in your quote should realize they themselves are inside of their own unique fig. The reason the others have withered is because she's chosen a fig. In real life, it seems that what usually happens is people don't realize they are heading for a fig that's not that bad all the while staring at all the others imagining how their life might be. Basically, be more grateful for what you have now.
- card_zero 2y ago"Never try" — H. Simpson In all the heartwarming animes I watch it goes like this: the main character has an absurd, unrealistic aspiration with a strong emotional motivation for it. She makes a lot of desperate and ridiculous efforts to get somewhere, and as a sort of karmic reward she gets somewhere else, not exactly what she intended, but a situation with a lot of fun and friendship and purpose develops, and it turns out that this is now what she wants and it serves the original emotional purpose just the same. However, the initial foolish aspiration was crucial or nothing would have happened.
- dgfitz 2y ago[flagged]
- esposito 2y agoDo you go around harassing everyone who uses 'he' when it could possibly be a man or a woman they're referring to?
- zarathustreal 2y agoTo be fair, “anime protagonists” are not the same category as “arbitrary human” so in this context saying “she” actually does come off more like virtue signaling given the statistical prevalence of male anime protagonists
- RoyalHenOil 2y agoStatistical prevalence is irrelevant when talking about a specific person's experiences watching anime. They may predominantly watch shows with female protagonists, or they may have had just a few particular female-protagonist shows in mind when they wrote the comment. Personally speaking (as someone who watches very little anime and has mostly only seen the famous ones, like Spirited Away and Kiki's Delivery Service), I think only ~10-20% of the animes I have watched have had male protagonists. It is surprising to me to hear that protagonists in that genre are mostly male, given my own overwhelming experience, and I'm not totally sure I believe it.
- zarathustreal 2y agoIf you watch very little anime.. why would you presume to weigh in on this topic? Shōnen is the most popular category of manga / anime and it’s targeted at adolescent males with mostly male protagonists.
- RoyalHenOil 2y ago
- simmerup 2y agoSylvia Plath ended up committing suicide is good context here
- asdf6969 2y ago[flagged]
- eddd-ddde 2y agoWhat a pessimistic view of life. I don't know how you figure that affordable place means you can't be a developer, when software engineering is probably one of the little professions where this doesn't apply. Also doing a year of FAANG should be enough to travel for a long while. What I earned in a 3 month internship was enough to pay my remaining studies and anything I wanted to buy for a long time. Don't take for granted what you get.
- asdf6969 2y agoThe dev jobs obviously still exist but they aren’t financially viable anymore and I would need to change careers to fit the local market. > doing a year of FAANG should be enough to travel for a long while yes and at the end of my big travels I’ll come back to a 1k/month rent increase for an even lower quality of life. This is not a viable long term plan. I already need to spend an extra 800 to rent the same unit I’m in if I was on the market today
- Thorrez 2y ago>I would need to change careers to fit the local market. I think eddd-ddde was implying doing remote work.
- chrisweekly 2y ago> "I feel like I’ve always known what the best choice is" That's an astonishing level of confidence / hubris. Also, many people choose to enjoy extended travel -- having saved $ in advance, and typically finding ways to live with much less luxury than your FAANG lifestyle takes for granted, and/or doing odd jobs or remote work/gigs, or teaching.... I would recommend that you find a way to broaden your horizons, either literally w/ travel or by way of books and ideally interactions with people outside the very narrow band of your current environs and perspective.
- imtringued 2y agoLiquidity preference is one hell of a drug.
- gwd 2y agoReminds me of the Existential Ad Agency: https://existentialcomics.com/comic/204 https://existentialcomics.com/comic/204
- Shinchy 2y agoThat's a great analogy, I'm now going to have to read this book.
- tacocataco 2y agoChop down the tree and build a house with the lumber if there are no more figs.