Welcome to Litsy!

I know I've been a lot less active lately, but I've missed y'all and wanted to say hi! Work has run me straight into complete and utter burnout (there aren't enough characters allowed for me to give the whole story). I know work stress is relatable to many, so I'm not claiming to be unique. But no job is worth tanking your mental health and sacrificing your well-being. I've decided to take a mental health leave and plan to read books with HEAs 🫶

Han's argument is that we have transitioned from a disciplinary society in which we are pressured to conform by external forces, into an achievement society in which we are pressured to conform by the introjected requirement to "live your best life", and so exploit ourselves in the impossible task of seeking ever-receding, pointless and illusory life goals, set by Capital. Consumerism requires that we are never satisfied, and so we can only ??

"Achievement society is the society of self-exploitation. The achievement-subject exploits itself until it burns out. In the process, it develops auto-aggression that often enough develops into self-destruction."

[Image: https://dribbble.com/shots/6122820-Self-Exploitation]

"In social networks, the function of "friends" is primarily to heighten narcissism by granting attention, as consumers, to the ego exhibited as a commodity."

Ouch! The truth (and the irony) hurts?Please ❤ this post

“The late-modern achievement-subject does not pursue works of duty. Its maxims are not obedience, law, and the fulfillment of obligation, but rather freedom, pleasure, and inclination. Above all, it expects the profits of enjoyment from work. It works for pleasure and does not act at the behest of the Other. Instead, it hearkens mainly to itself. After all, it must be a self-starting entrepreneur”

Reading this book about the social causes of burnout, stress, depression and anxiety is a useful reminder that we aren't personally at fault for our existential struggles. Contemplating those things can, however, be heavy going, so here's the kind of inspirational post (obviously, not from this book!) that usually makes me retch, but which in this moment actually made me smile in recognition. Back to the bleak quotes shortly...

"First and foremost, depression is creative fatigue and exhausted ability."

The complaint of the depressive individual “Nothing is possible” can only occur in a society that thinks “Nothing is impossible.” No-longer-being-able-to-be-able leads to destructive self-reproach & auto-aggression. The achievement-subject finds itself fighting with itself. The depressive has been wounded by internalized war. Depression is the sickness of a society that suffers from excessive positivity. It reflects a humanity waging war on itself

A philosophical look at how our intrusive connectedness and increased cognitive processing leads to depression, stress and exhaustion (the irony of posting this on social media...)
Written in 2010, the initial pages about the erosion of the sense of Other (foreign, threatening, to be expelled), being replaced with Different (exotic, intriguing, to be assimilated) as an effect of globalization seems less convincing in the age of Trump and Brexit.

"If language is deprived of what is indirect in it, its nature approaches that of a scream or order. Friendliness and politeness are also based on the circuitous and indirect. The orientation of violence, by contrast, is towards directness."

[Quote not from tagged book: "Analog Sea Review #1 not on Litsy database.]