Screw performance

There's a pervasive narrative taking hold, tightly woven into the very fabric of our society.

A narrative built on the virtues of productivity, performance, maximization.

And the worst of the bunch.

Growth for the sake of growth. Which rhymes with tumor.

We've normalized these gospels. We've given them the moral high ground.

And what are we getting in return?

Inadequacy complexes. Fear of missing out. And overall, the sentiment that we're wasting our lives.

But since when has life been about maximizing everything?

We don't need to fill our lives to make them fulfilling.

More often than not, beauty is in futility.

The things you do for no reason. The unproductive time you spend with friends.

As we're approaching the holiday season, the season of number crunching, performance evaluation, and wishful growth projections for the years to come, I'm reminded of the annoying dissonance oppressing me like a broken record.

The compliance to a self-defeating narrative. The compromises we are all too well willing to make to keep that narrative alive.

Well.

Screw performance.

Screw growth.

I'll play guitar until my fingers fall off.

I'll waste countless hours hanging out with friends.

I'll live the most unproductive but beautiful life I can.

Time to take the needle off the turntable.

Or so says a shy voice in my head.

Maybe not today. But the voice is getting louder.

Maybe one day, it will become more annoying than the dissonant one.