Attitude vs. Reality
So I have been kinda stressy and anxious for the past month or so. I suspect a lot of it has to do with the season. But a lot of it seems to be comming out of nowhere. That always frustrates me.
I've posted before about would I rather be a content idiot living in a trailer park and watching mindless reality shows or would I rather be discontent but more active and involved in life and self descovery. Pretty much every time I pick the latter, but when I start to worry to much, I wonder how much IQ and Ambition I would give up to just not worry anymore. You get to the whole "Perhaps if I were just committed and lived my life in a bathrobe being fed my meds, I would have a rather content life."
Naturally as much of a control freak as I am, this would be a special type of hell, but when I get upset and nervous, I sometimes think about it.
I'm currently curious how much attitude overcomes reality when it comes to things like contentment and happiness. When you look at my life objectively, I can't think of many people who would not trade with me. I am happily married (15 years and counting). I have 2 kids. I have a good sized house. I buy more or less anythign I want. Neither I nor anyone in my family is suffering any long term illness or injury. I am constantly surrounded and in contact with intelligent and engaging friends. I have a wide number of hobies (albeit bizarre ones). My religious life has floundered some, but I remain quietly quite religious even if I don't go to church very much anymore. Despite all this I manage to find things to worry about.
I am told that many of the captains of industry and big Type A personalities have these problems. That millionares have the same problems that the trailer park people do, just on different scales. If I accept this, no ammount of perfect life is going to bring happiness to someone that just won't let themselves be happy. Contrarywise no amount of bad life will be able to bring down a cheerful optimist. Now I am sure we could end up with some sort fo Panglossian horror that says 'that person's optimism has crossed over into delusion' But generally, especially in America, we're unlikely to get that bad.
One of my good friends was unemployed for a year. Was he depressed? Sure! But he didn't let it take over his life. He still went out and saw friends (to about the same degree he did before, he's rather introverted). He still engaged in hobbies and past times. If he was devestated by depression he hid it well. (I do know he had some bad times but everyone does). Now he's employed again. He's able to start spending money more freely (I'm hoping he joins us in Azeroth since he has moved physically to Missouri) but it hasn't seemd to have a huge effect on his net happiness. (Again, his introversion may be masking that)
So how do we be less like me and more like my friend? I dunno. Is it just brain chemistry? Is there some way to actively become a more cheery person? I know working out and stuff helps. Another reason why the winter is bad. My already low physical acctivity ebbs even more. I know some people who handle it by altering their brain chemisty through drugs/alchohol. I think thats a poor long term solution, but I will admit that it is nice to escape the worries of the world in such a fashion a couple times a year. One of the problems with Philosophy is that it often presents questions far more handily than it presents solutions. But I like philosophy. Ultimately I am content more often than I am upset. Its just I have trouble dealing with the upset times as well as "normal" people. The less I seek my source for some definitive, the closer I am to fine.
I've posted before about would I rather be a content idiot living in a trailer park and watching mindless reality shows or would I rather be discontent but more active and involved in life and self descovery. Pretty much every time I pick the latter, but when I start to worry to much, I wonder how much IQ and Ambition I would give up to just not worry anymore. You get to the whole "Perhaps if I were just committed and lived my life in a bathrobe being fed my meds, I would have a rather content life."
Naturally as much of a control freak as I am, this would be a special type of hell, but when I get upset and nervous, I sometimes think about it.
I'm currently curious how much attitude overcomes reality when it comes to things like contentment and happiness. When you look at my life objectively, I can't think of many people who would not trade with me. I am happily married (15 years and counting). I have 2 kids. I have a good sized house. I buy more or less anythign I want. Neither I nor anyone in my family is suffering any long term illness or injury. I am constantly surrounded and in contact with intelligent and engaging friends. I have a wide number of hobies (albeit bizarre ones). My religious life has floundered some, but I remain quietly quite religious even if I don't go to church very much anymore. Despite all this I manage to find things to worry about.
I am told that many of the captains of industry and big Type A personalities have these problems. That millionares have the same problems that the trailer park people do, just on different scales. If I accept this, no ammount of perfect life is going to bring happiness to someone that just won't let themselves be happy. Contrarywise no amount of bad life will be able to bring down a cheerful optimist. Now I am sure we could end up with some sort fo Panglossian horror that says 'that person's optimism has crossed over into delusion' But generally, especially in America, we're unlikely to get that bad.
One of my good friends was unemployed for a year. Was he depressed? Sure! But he didn't let it take over his life. He still went out and saw friends (to about the same degree he did before, he's rather introverted). He still engaged in hobbies and past times. If he was devestated by depression he hid it well. (I do know he had some bad times but everyone does). Now he's employed again. He's able to start spending money more freely (I'm hoping he joins us in Azeroth since he has moved physically to Missouri) but it hasn't seemd to have a huge effect on his net happiness. (Again, his introversion may be masking that)
So how do we be less like me and more like my friend? I dunno. Is it just brain chemistry? Is there some way to actively become a more cheery person? I know working out and stuff helps. Another reason why the winter is bad. My already low physical acctivity ebbs even more. I know some people who handle it by altering their brain chemisty through drugs/alchohol. I think thats a poor long term solution, but I will admit that it is nice to escape the worries of the world in such a fashion a couple times a year. One of the problems with Philosophy is that it often presents questions far more handily than it presents solutions. But I like philosophy. Ultimately I am content more often than I am upset. Its just I have trouble dealing with the upset times as well as "normal" people. The less I seek my source for some definitive, the closer I am to fine.