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“Who do you want to win the election?”
“Are you excited about tonight’s game?
“What do you want to do tonight?”
“I don’t care.”
A Case For & Against Apathy
In his best-selling book, The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck, Mark Manson lays out a perfect argument for what instances we should and shouldn’t be apathetic. His argument is that we only have so many f*cks to give so we must be wary as to when and where to give them.
I agree.
To some degree, in order to accomplish anything, we must practice selective apathy. Without it, every email, news alert, and new Instagram post seems like the most pressing issue. We must be able to say “no” to that which doesn’t matter so we can focus on what does.
Let me repeat that again:
We must be able to say “no” to that which doesn’t matter so we can focus on what does.
That is to say — we don’t just get to walk around giving zero f*cks all the time. We just should be preserving our energy, time, and attention (our f*cks) for the moments, ideas, and people that count.
This doesn’t mean not caring; it just means being selective in how we exhibit…