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Slow The F*ck Down, Please.
Exploring the pathless path.
Good afternoon from The Azores! My wife and I are on a delayed honeymoon as this is going out to you. I hope I’m sitting in one of these chairs reading a book right now…
If not, I’m exploring a volcanic lake or driving to a waterfall somewhere on the island. We’ve likely stopped for 3 cow herd road crossings by now.
Today I want to have a quick 1-on-1 with you about slowing down.
This post contradicts 85% of a post I wrote back in October.
Here’s the difference:
That post is for people who are lost in the jungle and need a way back to civilization. This post is for people who know they are meant to be Tarzan.
I just finished The Pathless Path by Paul Millerd. I’d now consider this a must read for anyone on or entertaining the idea of an alternative life path that doesn’t involve 35 years of full-time employment.
One of the core concepts of the book is reorienting your priorities to put your career last.
Not to neglect it — although he did — but to not use it as the lens for how you look at decisions in your life.
A couple of interesting citations about how life is and how life used to be:
[Josef] Pieper argued that for most of history, leisure was one of the most important parts of life for people in many cultures. He noted that the ancient Greek translation for “work” was literally “not‑at‑leisure.” In Aristotle’s own words, “we are not‑at‑leisure in order to be‑at‑leisure.”
So how did the anglosphere become so work-centric? It should be noted that most of Asia and a good part of Europe still embrace a slower life. Siesta, for example. When’s the last time your boss let you nap after lunch?
You would only be seen as a legitimate member of society if you worked a full-time job. The government even codified this opinion into law in 1946, when Congress passed the Full Employment Act, which mandated that the federal government do everything in its power to ensure every American was employed full time.
The memetic force of being seen as a respectable member of society only if you worked a full time job took over.
The belief that full‑time work is normal, however, doesn’t match with reality. In 2013, Gallup found that the global payroll to population rate, or the percentage of people working full-time, to be 26%. If only a quarter of the population has “good egg” jobs, maybe the prevailing story that tells us how we should think about work and the economy is not the best one.
This also sadly and wrongfully — with the help of the feminists — denigrated the nobility of full time motherhood. That’s a topic for a different day.
As a result, no one reading this is thinking, “My top priority in life is working 15 hours a week and spending the rest of my time exploring hobbies, being creative and loving my friends and family.”
It comes back to the Mexican fisherman parable.
I’m not blind to the fact that this is limited by financial constraints.
Again though, on this path you will never…
…stop comparing yourself to others.
…ask yourself how much is enough.
…allow yourself to think of a different life.
The pathless path requires agency and curiosity. But, the alternative for some is a life they’re not satisfied they lived.
By default, you step on the hedonic treadmill at 18 and never get off. I’m not saying you have to get off, I’m saying you have the right to adjust the speed.
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