Two unrelated events lead to this post.
One of my friends shared an article with the title “How to fix your entire life in 1 day”.
I watched Odyssey (the Nolan movie) and decided to read the book. I am deeply influenced by a shady Greek hero Odysseus.
Gods Play with Odysseus
Let’s start with Odyssey and Odysseus. He is supposted to be a hero in Greek culture. But he came up with a cowardly trick to break trust among men. Though Nolan gave a spin of regret to the character, the guy is shady.
Even the text of Odyssey acknowledges that he was a grey character. Unlike Indian myths where the hero is always straightforward (Ramayana), or the hero is manipulative under the garb of Dharma (Mahabharata), this myth is overtly embracing an imperfect character.
The gods are closely involved in his life. They punish and rescue him. But they never disturb him when he is doing something out of sync with Zeus’s law. So ironic. Whatever be the case, Odysseus is a great hero who is also smart and strong.
The king of Ithaca claims that “gods help those who help themselves”. He also thinks he can “defy the gods”. But in the end he has to surrender and be humble to reach home.
It only goes to show how little is in the control of humans (even the most capable and powerful men).
Can You Change Your Life in a Day?
In the light of Odyssey (even if it is a mere myth), one can only understand that a lot of things are beyond our control. Very few exist with our grasp.
Let me list a few things which can be partly controlled by a person.
Friend circles
Hobbies and learning choices
Sleep cycle and social media consumption
Diet choices and fitness routines
Jobs (in some cases)
Life Partner (in some cases)
In spite of having free will in these domains, a large majority of people still fuck up. Luck and skill can impact outcomes, for sure. But the fact that a large majority makes bad choices in spite of having all information and free will in their hands goes to show that Silicon Valley self help writers are out of touch with reality.
Just imagine the audacity of writer (Dan Koe) who says:
You aren’t where you want to be because you don’t want to be there.
Do poor people fail to be rich because they don’t want to be rich? Does a falsely accused criminal stay in jail because he doesn’t want to prove his innocence? This statement crumbles in many human scenarios.
The whole article written by this random guy assumes that everyone is living in a vacuum where an individual is responsible for all outcomes in his or her life. Even Odysseus would disagree with this idiot, because he was trying to reach home for ten f*cking years. He still didn’t make it because he “didn’t want to be there”.
But the most hilarious line of this guy’s article is this:
Turn your life into a video game
Are you serious? It doesn’t work that way. You can’t even control the idiotic guy driving his two wheeler on the wrong side while simultaneously talking on his mobile phone.
I mean sure, you can work hard and create opportunities for yourself through perseverance. But for heaven’s sake we should stop people from blaming themselves because they could not achieve a certain goal. The entire world has enough obstacles, distractions and challenges stopping poeple from getting basic needs.
We don’t have to write articles that make no sense to an ordinary person dealing with complexities of just existing.
Give it a break, seriously.