The problem with Self Help is that it presupposes there is something wrong with the way you are now.
But fully embracing your current state, whatever that may be, can prevent meaningful growth and change.
Take the simple example of lying on the couch. When you resent yourself for lying on the couch and not doing __________, that only makes you heavier. You surround the couch with guilt. However, if you embrace the couch too much, you fear never getting up again.
We’re constantly battling this tension — getting up and lying down. We work (getting up) so we can watch Netflix and chill (lying down). We mow the lawn (getting up) so we can picnic in the yard (lying down).
Some people try to avoid lying down completely (I’ll sleep when I’m dead). Others leave out the getting up part altogether (I need my rest). Neither strategy works. Eventually, both the sleeper and the non-sleeper fall into the same hole.
Money doesn’t solve this predicament. Neither does time. Success doesn’t help either. No matter how grand the accomplishments, the glow will fade and you’ll be back on the couch, wondering, in a far corner of your mind, what’s next.
So what do you do with something that’s both inevitable and unsolvable? A riddle on your fridge greeting you every morning.
You laugh at it.
You put it in your pocket.
You crumple it up and throw it in the air.
You lie down and you get up.
And you fucking love both.