The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

The avoidance of suffering is a form of suffering. The avoidance of struggle is a struggle. The denial of failure is a failure. Hiding what is shameful is itself a form of shame.

Not giving a fuck does not mean being indifferent; it means being comfortable with being different.

One of those realizations was this: that life itself is a form of suffering. The rich suffer because of their riches. The poor suffer because of their poverty. People without a family suffer because they have no family. People with a family suffer because of their family. People who pursue worldly pleasures suffer because of their worldly pleasures.

The solution to one problem is merely the creation of the next one. 

You can't win if you don't play. What determines your success isn't, "What do you want to enjoy?" The relevant question is, "What pain do you want to sustain?" The path to happiness is full of shit-heaps and shame. 

I wanted the reward, not the struggle. I wanted the result and not the process. I was in love with not the fight but only the victory.

And life doesn't work that way.

This is what is so admirable. The people who don't give a fuck about adversity or failure or embarrassing themselves or shitting the bed a few times. The people who just laugh and do what they believe in anyway. Because they know it's right. They know it's more important than they are, more important than their own feelings and their own pride and their own ego. They say "Fuck it", not to everything in life, but rather to everything unimportant in life. They reserve their fucks for what truly matters. Friends. Family. Purpose. Burritos.

Our problems birth our happiness, along with slightly better, slightly upgraded problems.

See: It's a never-ending spiral. And if you think at any point you're allowed to stop climbing, I'm afraid you're missing the point. Because the joy is in the climb itself.

While there is something to be said for "staying on the sunny side of life", the truth is, sometimes life sucks, and the healthiest thing you can do is admit it.

I used to think the human brain was the most wonderful organ in my body. Then I realized who was telling me this.

Emotions are part of the equation in our lives, but not the entire equation. Just because something feels good doesn't mean it is good. Just because something feels bad doesn't mean it is bad. Emotions are merely signposts, suggestions that our neurobiology gives us, not commandments. Therefore we shouldn't always trust our own emotions. In fact, I believe we should make a habit of questioning them.

As we look back in horror at the lives of people five hundred years ago,I imagine people five hundred years from now will laugh at us and our certainties today. They will laugh at how we let our money and jobs define our lives. They will laugh at how we were afraid to show appreciation for those who matter to us the most,yet praise public figures who don't deserve anything. They will laugh at our rituals and superstitions,worries and our wars;they will gawk at our cruelty. They will study our art and argue over our history. They will understand truths about us which none of us are yet aware.