I love articles like this. The writer seems to have no idea they're revealing severe psychological trauma to the readers, and despite it they try to pass it off as sage life advice. Like telling everyone you spit in the soup at work but it helps strengthen people's immune systems so everyone should be unsanitary.
In praise of blowing up your life
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Re: In praise of blowing up your life
#52I can recommend the book Quit. It explores the same ideas but it’s a bit more level headed. It gives a framework for knowing when to quit.
I just skimmed the article but I got the feeling the author always is in favor of quitting.
Re: In praise of blowing up your life
#53Before you take Sasha Chapin's advice to blow up your life seriously, ask yourself whether you envy the life he's living. > My existence really started getting good when I started blowing up my life more regularly, with a substantial eruption every couple of years. I quit my job and moved to Thailand without doing any research about the country, figuring that I could be a bartender again somewhere if it all went sout…
...because he switched careers and had a divorce? Not exactly a sign of a failed life, IMO. As a software engineer I feel damn lucky that I chose a career that I really like AND pays well; most people can't say the same. As for the divorce, you could get rich in a day if you knew how to reliably spot one of those coming early in a relationship.
> As for the divorce, you could get rich in a day if you knew how to reliably spot one of those coming early in a relationship.
Who would ever listen to you though?
Re: In praise of blowing up your life
#54Do not take life advice from someone with the blind confidence of a mediocre white man.
What does race have to do with any of this?
Re: In praise of blowing up your life
#55I have a theory that this is the Monty hall problem effect in practice [1]. When you blow up your life you are opening an unknown door... But after you have narrowed your options, so the outcomes are likely to be better than your status quo.
Re: In praise of blowing up your life
#56Alternatively, never blow up your life! Live near your family and lifelong friends, establish hardcore roots with your community, always be surrounded by love. A road less taken by the educated elites, but a happy and fulfilling road nonetheless.
The Onion’s take: https://www.theonion.com/unambitious-loser-with-happy-fulfil...
Re: In praise of blowing up your life
#57I spent years examining (also together with my psychologist) the question:
“People always tell you to follow your dream”. But often following one’s dream comes at a cost, or at least comes with some risk. Yet, the advice to “follow your dream” is a blanket advice, it supposedly trumps everything else.
I ended up deciding to not follow my dream, at that point in life, and I am happy I didn’t. I won’t be telling my kids to “follow your dream”. Think about it real good before blowing up your life.
Re: In praise of blowing up your life
#58I don't entirely disagree, but the first thing that this article brought to mind is the old cliche "wherever you go, there you are". I'm 34, lots of ex girlfriends and lots of past cities. There's a fine line between breaking out of the status quo hamster wheel and running away from your baggage. Moving cities, or relationships, or jobs isn't worth as much if you aren't simultaneously working on yourself
It sounds like this author believes in going really big. They didn't move cities, they moved continents. They didn't date and break up, they married and divorced. I think there is something to be said for getting some big experiences. Moving from Pittsburgh to Cleveland might be a waste of energy. Moving from Pittsburgh to Paris is a guaranteed adventure. I don't know if I agree or not, but it is interesting to think…
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Re: In praise of blowing up your life
#59I blew up my life when I moved to Denmark for an MSc studies. I moved to a new country, amidst covid, without a social support system, without speaking the language, without having financial security. I was terrified of doing that … but it was around the time in 2020 when r/WSB was growing, and saw people “yolo ing” more money than I ever had. So I said yolo. I barely made it through; got super depressed due to isola…
Hey! I am about to move to (Copenhagen) Denmark in a few weeks from Australia.
I am also going in not speaking the language.
Any tips / suggestions?
Re: In praise of blowing up your life
#60I followed the link to the volcano study, and it said the opposite of what the author said that it said. The adults who were displaced had worse outcomes than the other adults who were not, but the children of those adults did better, and their offspring, and so on.