“There comes that phase in life when, tired of losing, you decide to stop losing, then continue losing. Then you decide to really stop losing, and continue losing. The losing goes on and on so long you begin to watch with curiosity, wondering how low you can go.”
George Saunders, In Persuasion Nation
I love what Saunders doesn’t do in this quote. He doesn’t peddle that positivity bullshit we find in the self-help market where we can triumph over our inertia and unhealthy habits if we just have the will to do so. Self-help is hard and our failures to help ourselves, from a certain perspective, are funny. It’s not just that we don’t have complete command of ourselves most or even all the time but also that the world doesn’t conform to our desires just because we have them so we’re bound to meet many obstacles.
Still, nothing wrong with a little adversity now and then.