hmichellerose on Nostr: There are things in life that are zerosum. It is a matter of survival that we can ...
There are things in life that are zerosum. It is a matter of survival that we can compete with others for those zerosum resources. However, if your self concept is zerosum, your mental health will suffer.
Sometimes we go through a phase of life where we need to prove to ourselves that we can “make it”, essentially that we can survive the zerosum aspects of human life.
Have you read “How to Know a Person” by David Brooks? It's worth the time and there is a section in there about various "life tasks" that a person may be undertaking at any point in their life. One of them he calls Empirical. Here we prove to our selves that we can achieve things and develop agency. This is comparative and competitive. and can lead to narcissistic and abusive behavior if not moved past. It's an important task in life, but is disastrous if we stay there too long.
Sometimes we go through a phase of life where we need to prove to ourselves that we can “make it”, essentially that we can survive the zerosum aspects of human life.
Have you read “How to Know a Person” by David Brooks? It's worth the time and there is a section in there about various "life tasks" that a person may be undertaking at any point in their life. One of them he calls Empirical. Here we prove to our selves that we can achieve things and develop agency. This is comparative and competitive. and can lead to narcissistic and abusive behavior if not moved past. It's an important task in life, but is disastrous if we stay there too long.