Mark Manson - The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F__k (2016, HarperOne) - libgen.li

the center of all of the problems in the universe, that we are the one suffering
all of the injustices, that we are the one who deserves greatness over all
others.
As alluring as it is, entitlement isolates us. Our curiosity and excitement
for the world turns in upon itself and reflects our own biases and projections
onto every person we meet and every event we experience. This feels sexy
and enticing and may feel good for a while and sells a lot of tickets, but it’s
spiritual poison.
It’s these dynamics that plague us now. We are so materially well off, yet
so psychologically tormented in so many low-level and shallow ways.
People relinquish all responsibility, demanding that society cater to their
feelings and sensibilities. People hold on to arbitrary certainties and try to
enforce them on others, often violently, in the name of some made-up
righteous cause. People, high on a sense of false superiority, fall into inaction
and lethargy for fear of trying something worthwhile and failing at it.
The pampering of the modern mind has resulted in a population that feels
deserving of something without earning that something, a population that feels
they have a right to something without sacrificing for it. People declare
themselves experts, entrepreneurs, inventors, innovators, mavericks, and
coaches without any real-life experience. And they do this not because they
actually think they are greater than everybody else; they do it because they
feel that they need to be great to be accepted in a world that broadcasts only
the extraordinary.
Our culture today confuses great attention and great success, assuming
them to be the same thing. But they are not.
You are great. Already. Whether you realize it or not. Whether anybody
else realizes it or not. And it’s not because you launched an iPhone app, or
finished school a year early, or bought yourself a sweet-ass boat. These
things do not define greatness.
You are already great because in the face of endless confusion and
certain death, you continue to choose what to give a fuck about and what not
to. This mere fact, this simple optioning for your own values in life, already
makes you beautiful, already makes you successful, and already makes you
loved. Even if you don’t realize it. Even if you’re sleeping in a gutter and
starving.