Tyrannical Maximization
Have you ever spent so much energy trying to extract as many experiences from a vacation as possible?—?which some part of you hoped would result in rejuvenation and rest?—?that you ended up more restless??
“The idea that whoever lives twice as fast can enjoy twice as many life possibilities…” the philosopher Byung Chul Han writes in The Scent of Time, “is a na?ve calculation which rests on a confusion of fulfillment with mere plentitude.”?
It is this same na?ve calculation that drives some of us to frequently change the song we’re listening to, because our confused sensibilities of fulfillment demand that the air waves of every moment be filled with not just any song, but the perfect one.?
It’s also what drives volume-based goals like the website Good Read’s annual reading challenge which, in a well-intended effort to encourage people to find greater delight from the act of reading, invites users to pick the number of books they will read for the year. And if you’re behind, fear not, the app will be happy to remind you that you’re behind?—?that you must catch up. Again, presumably so as to ensure you get to experience as much joy from reading as possible.?
At some point trying to shove more experiences into our life becomes the antithesis of what we we’re attempting to do which is to have a good time.
Who is to say that savoring one good book throughout the year can’t be just as, if not more pleasurable, than having read 100? Who is counting and why?
The spurious do-more-to-get-more-fulfillment maxim will inevitably have you believe you’re somehow behind in life, in your work, and in your relationships.
But maybe the notion of being ahead or behind, or to have exhibited a lot or a little, isn’t the most useful vocabulary here.?
Maybe not everything in life needs to be an optimization problem.?
Maybe being where you are, and allowing yourself to be there instead of chasing after more lifestuff, is good.?
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I'm a second-generation Taiwanese American trying to find life’s greatest sources of meaning and make the most out of it.