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Comment by sublinear | Hacker News Reader

My eyes were tantalizingly close to rolling out of my head throughout reading this, but I had to stop altogether at this point:

> We should run our errands in person and queue at the Post Office and eat in restaurants because it is good to remember that sometimes we have to wait around, or go to several shops because the first one didn’t have what we needed. Resilience is one of the most important traits a person can and should develop, and it works like a muscle. Glide effortlessly through life and, when something bad does happen, because it always will, you won’t know how to react.

Waiting around is pointless. The most resilient people find ways to avoid it and have actual hobbies and lives to live. This entire article just sounds like weird propaganda promoting a very confused perspective.

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It really reminds me of the Calvin and Hobbes comic where Calvin imitates his dad and says "Calvin, go do something you hate. Being miserable builds character!".

The comic in question: https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1990/12/07 -- Calvin's mom's reaction is priceless.

It's funny that out of a not so small corpus, most of which I can't recall, this is the one line that I actually found memorable. Great line. I use it IRL some times.

> Waiting around is pointless. The most resilient people find ways to avoid it and have actual hobbies and lives to live. This entire article just sounds like weird propaganda promoting a very confused perspective.

Removing everything you don't like from life is not good for you. Having everything you want is not good for you.

No one gets everything they want in life, though, even with less waiting around. That seems like a strange line of reasoning.

Max Stirner tried to warn the world about people like you, but no one listened then and they still don’t listen today.

Well, why not?

I don't understand this prevailing perspective in highly individualistic societies that pain is good. If you can achieve the same result without the pain why is that so bad? When does it become progress?

If I can be healthy just by taking a pill a day as opposed to dying, what's the harm? Lives are saved and that's... bad... somehow?

If I can get my nick nacks without going to the store what's the harm?

Sometimes things are too good to be true. But most of the time, things really are just good. They are just better. You do just progress forward. That's why I can write you this comment instead of writing a letter and waiting weeks for a response. Why did we give that up? Isn't waiting painful, and therefore good? I don't think so.

> If I can be healthy just by taking a pill a day as opposed to dying, what's the harm? Lives are saved and that's... bad... somehow?

No, that's great! Despite what some of the comments claim, I'm not saying "suffering FTW!". I'm saying that working towards goals is literally in our DNA, and getting everything you want won't make you happy.

Your letter example is a good one. On the one hand, it's incredible that I can communicate with many people at once across the world from my desk. The benefits are obvious. What's not so obvious are the benefits of having to write letters in the old days:

When you have to spend so much effort in communication, it's worth much more to you. You take more time, think about what you're saying more, and most importantly; feel much higher rewards. Low effort, low returns.

Sure, you don't always get everything you want. That's part of life.

But actively seeking or allowing things that make you feel genuinely bad? That's a bit messed up, TBH.

... and telling others to do so? Well :-/

I think there's something to be said for being bored once in awhile though. Helps you reset. I think a nice long vacation once a year will cure that better though

First time I've seen someone claim you have to go out to eat in restaurants for a bit to build resilience.

Here I thought you were supposed to enjoy the food.

It's also a weird assertion because you also have to wait around for takeout/delivery. You could also just cook at home, which usually ends up taking just as long and takes actual effort instead of just sitting around which, in theory, would build even more resilience.

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