Morning Thoughts: On Having "The Slows," Envy, Competition and Bad Behavior

Saturday April 22nd, 2023

On some mornings, I just sit with my head in my hands and ponder the sad fact that I have "the slows" and I just can't get my brain to start firing.

Lately, those mornings seem to be getting more and more frequent. I don't really know whether it's the result of our lingering late winte/spring that has been so dark, grey and wet, or something completely different... like not getting good sleep.

Regardless, it definitely feels like my creative spark is down in one of its proverbial valleys.

Weather... and "Climate Change"

Not at all related, I learned an interesting small detail about the way the climate in our world works. I never realized that ice ages develop as a result of colder summers rather than colder winters.

Evidently, when summers are cooler, the snows that fall on the mountains melt more slowly — or not at all — reflecting heat back out into space as a result of which we have cooler temperatures and then there is a bigger snow base for next year's snowfall to come down on.

And so on, and so forth.

I expect this is meteorology 101 for many people, but I thought it was interesting and I always appreciate being able to learn something new every day!

What brought it to mind was a recent article stating that in our local region we have had less snowfall than usual during the 2022-23 winter season, but currently the snowpack is well above normal for this time of the year, due to colder temperatures.

Envy: Why Do People Even CARE?

I'm not sure why, but this morning I found myself contemplating the human trait of envy and how it interacts with people's egos, often leading them to engage in what I might consider "bad behavior." It seems like so much of life is centered around this notion of wanting what other people have and feeling envious. I mean, feeling envious when they have something and we don't.

That has rarely been an issue for me... but then I contemplated the fact that I'm not really much of a consumer of things.

Meanwhile, the majority of the marketing of things seems to be directly targeted at triggering these feelings of envy in people, and poking at their egos to go in pursuit of keeping up with their peers in some fashion.

Along with that, everyone seems obsessed with being "so gosh-darn special."

99% of the time I don't really care what my peers have — or don't have — except maybe in the sense that I see that somebody has a great idea or a great system for something or other worked out... and it inspires me to go home and do something similar because it will improve my own life.

For example, it might be a great idea on how to set up your garden beds. Or an easier way to do something that I do on a regular basis. Or a way to save money on something.

Regardless, noticing that somebody else has something — or can do something I cannot — is definitely never a reason for me to engage in some kind of bad behavior, or wanting to tear them down because I feel like I might never be able to accomplish what they have… and yet that sort of response — which I would definitely regard as very toxic — seems quite commonplace in our world today.

On a Crusade to Be Offended...

Somehow it feels not too far removed from "that other trend" I'm seeing in society where people are out on active quests to find things to be angry and outraged over.

I mean it's one thing to be angry and outraged because some injustice was done to you in a more or less direct sense, but the part I don't really get are the people who actually seem to be out there "turning over rocks" to see whether there might be something under that rock they can be angry and offended at.

What the hell is your issue? You just enjoy being angry? Does it give you some strange sense of superiority that you can point out that something — that's really none of your business — is wrong? I don't get it. Why is this a worthy pastime?

In a slightly twisted way it reminds me of the classic caricature of the "busybody nosy neighbor" in an apartment complex where you know every time you walk down the stairs and out to your car the the curtains will be pulled slightly aside as somebody peers out with a pair of spy glasses to see what you're doing, while writing notes in a small book.

Maybe you should consider getting a life of your own rather than looking for ways to tear apart other people's lives!

Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation! I do my best to answer comments, even if it sometimes takes a few days!

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Created at 2023-04-22 12:17 PST
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