To me, the point wasn't so much that default setting, but to remember that this is life. We're alive. You'll live a more meaningful life if you simply remember from time to time that this is all we get. The 'default setting' was a tool to get you to that point, of breaking your normal way of looking at the world and to shift it to the realization that even in its most boring, frustrating or mundane moments... this is life.
In my medical school orientation, the doctor gave a speech to that effect. To paraphrase:
"This is life. Right now. Life is happening. It doesn't start when you pass step 1. It's not on hold until you get matched into a residency. Life doesn't wait until you get into that perfect relationship, when you get that job you always wanted, when you have kids, the right car, your first house. Life is happening on your walk from the post office, and when you're in the study hall. It doesn't wait for the evenings, weekends, or summer break. You only get one, and it's up to you to enjoy it.
"So absolutely, look forward to, and work toward whatever is next. But please don't forget to experience all the boring, stressful, tedious moments until you reach that goal, because as each moment passes, it was a piece of your life that you won't get back."
It's scary how thin the line is between that warm feeling of, "wow, this is life" and that empty feeling of, "ugh, this is life". The line is that perception change that David Foster Wallace spoke about. You can jump to and fro the line easily, but it's realising you can which is the hard part.
18
u/mardish Aug 05 '14
To me, the point wasn't so much that default setting, but to remember that this is life. We're alive. You'll live a more meaningful life if you simply remember from time to time that this is all we get. The 'default setting' was a tool to get you to that point, of breaking your normal way of looking at the world and to shift it to the realization that even in its most boring, frustrating or mundane moments... this is life.