Between us mouses

There is a compelling issue, well two compelling issues, that bring me out of MBA-imposed blog silence.

The first one is all this feedback from the masses having an overwhelming sense that life doesn't get any better. Than, you know, now. Status quo is all there is. You've gotten yourself into this mess and you can never get out of it. The quagmire of your decisions will drag you down until you succumb and then you will join the rest of the numb-skulled zombies at the bottom of the pit. (Speaking of pits, I saw Kill Bill 2 this morning and I would not want to be buried alive ever.) This is a vastly popular and, in my opinion, extremely detrimental outlook. It is not the quagmire of thine decisions that will drag you down. It's the quagmire of thine attitudes. It can make you or break you.

People worry about a lot of things. Some people worry about dying. Some worry about the costs of healthcare for loved ones. Some worry about the color of their skin and the curve of their hip. And some people worry about what would happen if the world found out what they're really like. People worry because of the lack of something. They lack what they deem important that inhibits them from acquiring something. No money for drugs. Too much pigmentation. Too many pounds. Too little love. If you look at it objectively, at the end of the day, that's wot people worry about. Things they don't have that will lead to them not having more... things. Objects. States. Status. Feelings even.

There are some people who don't worry a lot. Em calls it 'taking it easy'. I call it stopping to smell the roses (there is a popular school of thought that suggests that stopping to smell the roses actually refers to taking time out of busy lives to take stock of the important things but in my book, if you're stopping to smell the roses, there is no way you're not letting the happy tonins affect you). I think Asians are engineered to believe that happiness is directly related to fate and if it's not written in your fate by the Big Man in the Sky then you will not be happy. And then there is the other popular (and also scientific) sentiment that depression is a chemical imbalance. Somewhere in the middle lies my belief. Let me explain.

I think depression happens when your worry (defined above) is so great that the analytical side of your brain packs its culottes and goes on a beach vacation letting the dark side take over. That's the side that is so firmly convinced that a) there is a problem, b) the problem is too big to solve and therefore, c) we must worry some more about it thereby, d) plunging ourselves into deeper depression. I think that all of the above fundamental aspects need to exist for their to be depression. And conversely, I also think that if you remove any one aspect, the depression will be lifted.

Exit strategies like absconding, relocation, suicide, dropping out, cutting off and breaking down are options for those that hit the intolerance point. The intolerance point is the point you reach when you've convinced yourself that your life (or lack thereof) will be better (or alternatively, happiness will be achieved) if one or more of these strategies are adopted.

This is a very popular yet misleading view. Let me tell you why.

If there is no post-exit strategy life, then the point is moot. I am of the school of thought that there is no consciousness after death so don't talk to me about heaven and hell.

If there is post-exit strategy life, it will be of one much like a diabetic patient. You're gonna need a regular dose of insulin to keep alive because your body cannot produce it by itself. So in your case, your body doesn't produce enough of whatever combination of seratonin and wotever else is needed to feel good. That could be because you have a chemical imbalance but could it also be because you don't want to. Be happy. Because you don't know how. Because its too much work. Because you don't even know that you don't want to. Can't solve a problem if you don't know what it is.

And I think that's where we lose. We mostly don't know what the problem is. So we go forth blundering into the void trying not to bump into anything so solid that, at best slows you down and at worst causes you to fall. This is why I think we're unhappy.

So wot's the answer? The key to happiness, the Holy Grail? No fucking clue. But I know I want more of it. Maybe I'll try getting rid of one or more Fundamental Aspects. Maybe that'll work. I'll give it a shot and let you know how it turns out.

And now, I must wake up Claudia and go to class and learn about Consumer Behavior.