I tried to explain this exact notion to a therapist once that kept telling me to be the change I want to see and become an activist or an entrepreneur. With what? My looks? Hey… You don’t happen to have a million dollars of seed money you can give me to get started do you? They did not like my tone very much
Your therapist: “skill issue…”
You: “oh! I want to see YOU try it then!”
If you’re truly in a situation where you cannot change the negative pressures on your life, that sounds like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is probably going to be more helpful than psychoanalysis.
At some point all you can do is practice changing the way your brain responds to things. I found that very frustrating at first when I started Mindfulness / CBT but eventually I realized the wisdom in it.
Or… dismantle capitalism
In this economy? /S
That would require a new ethos. We need you to write one, please. We need it. Our collective history has been built around utilitarianism/enslavement.
There are many smarter than I that have written a better ethos. Their words have been demonized by those that control. The same who decided that history began when control was first taken, ignoring the cooperative millennia that first made humans the most influential species on this planet. Being kind is our instinct, we just need to reject our conditioning into competition. We need a system that rewards camaraderie rather than domination. We need communism, or we will destroy ourselves.
Does “The Book of Rage” count?
I mean sure but on some level you need to accept that the world can be terrible and you need to make the best of the circumstances you are in.
I’m not saying those people lighting Teslas on fire are right or mentally sound, but they are better off than the people who want to do that only to doomscroll all day before crying themselves to sleep.
