Every day, there is something at stake. We can use this awareness, not to scare us, but to keep us from squandering our lives. We can commit to experiences that strengthen us, instead of letting the internet rob us of our ability to perceive reality, to be with ourselves, or even to love. We look to it for relief, but it can only capitalize on our compulsions.
We get stronger by occupying our own lives and acting on the intuitions pulling us toward certain things. It could be cooking, reading, or painting. Vastly different activities feel the same when they’re going well. What’s important is that they demand enough from us to take over our attention completely for a time.
Meaningful experience is not random. There’s a structure we bring to it. Boredom used to bore us into better experiences. Now, distraction is always there, keeping us from doing anything real. When we engage in activities that match our abilities and demand our full attention, we take control of our consciousness. Without that, our lives are shaped randomly by whatever reaches us first.
We only feel alive when something demands just enough from us to get us out of ourselves. Things that challenge us without being overwhelming. Kick down the doors, go outside. Climb rocks. Dance. What matters is full involvement.
We will never be happy deploying an index finger alone for 16 hours a day. Existing to consume will bore us to death and strip us of the challenge we need to overcome in order to grow. Our whole body needs a focus. Something that can shrink our world for two or three hours a day. That’s enough to establish something lasting. Something that pulls us in and leaves us wanting more the next day. We need our concentration to narrow so that only select information can get in, not through willpower but because there’s no room for anything else.
We recognize what we’re to do by the jolt of energy and relief it unleashes in us. This isn’t about external reward. It’s about commanding a life and substituting our protective routines for exposure to uncertainty.
A satisfying life can’t sustain itself on the internet alone. It will turn on itself. It’s only in what we do—fully and in real life—that we come back to ourselves.
Quote: There comes a time in your life when you focus solely on what you believe is right, regardless of what everybody else is doing. Alexander McQueen
Song Accompaniment: Boredom, Tyler The Creator