Beyond Burnout
"the world in flames, we need a firehose to put it out" - DALL·E X RADAR
We’re collectively finding ourselves in a place beyond burnout. From mothers screaming in fields to quiet quitting, it can feel both dramatic and detached. It’s also impacting our relationship with time, parachuting us into an eerie existence where days move at a glacial pace yet months evade our grasp. It’s a point of tension that might finally necessitate radical change, as discussed by Anne Helen Petersen here. And that tracks: because with the world aflame, we need a firehose to put it out.
Just…Languishing
"It feels like an incredibly potent snapshot of the anti-flourishing" - DALL·E X RADAR
There’s a reason Adam Grant’s 2021 piece for The New York Times gained such traction in broader culture. At the time, it just felt right. And in so many ways, it still does. Because….just blah. Right? It feels like an incredibly potent snapshot of the anti-flourishing we’re experiencing in nearly every capacity. But then, as Austin Kleon ponders, what if we’re not languishing — but are just dormant? Might that latent potential hint toward a way out?
Too Tired to Care
"NEVER ENDING SPIRAL OF BAD NEWS" - DALL·E X RADAR
As Ed Yong puts it, “The last three years have hammered home the fact that we cannot protect things that we don’t empathize with.” And unfortunately whatever reserves of empathy and compassion we had are running dry. Exposed to a never-ending spiral of bad news, we’ve become desensitized to suffering of all sorts. In a world where, as Tressie McMillan Cottam writes, “caring is all we seem able to do,” losing that capacity is a BFD.
