Burnout : The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle

James Baldwin famously said, “Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.” Less famously, right before he said that, he said, “And furthermore, you give me a terrifying advantage: You [white people] never had to look at me. I had to look at you. I know more about you than you know about me.”
Turning to look at the uncomfortable truths, turning to face the strange, is the terrifying advantage. People on the receiving end of oppression or violence or the impacts of climate change don’t have a choice about it. People with some degree of power, privilege, or opportunity have to choose it, the fearful advantage of knowing what is true—all of what is true. Even the parts that highlight the difference between us and expected-us.

Every Disney heroine has an “I Want” song, in which they explain what’s missing in their lives. Moana feels called by the ocean. Tiana is “Almost There,” saving money to start her own restaurant. Belle wants “adventure in the great wide somewhere.” The tradition goes all the way back to Snow White, singing “Someday My Prince Will Come.” You can chart the progress of women in America by the things Disney heroines sing about in their “I Want” songs.

Science is the best idea humanity has ever had. It’s a systematic way of exploring the nature of reality, of testing and proving or disproving ideas. But it’s important to remember that science is ultimately a specialized way of being wrong.

headwinds/tailwinds asymmetry.

headwinds/tailwinds asymmetry.

headwinds/tailwinds asymmetry.

most of us tend to ignore or forget about advantages we’ve received, but remember the obstacles we’ve overcome,

But it’s important to remember that science is ultimately a specialized way of being wrong. That is, every scientist tries to be (a) slightly less wrong than the scientists who came before them, by proving that something we thought was true actually isn’t, and (b) wrong in a way that can be tested and proven, which results in the next scientist being slightly less wrong.

Just knowing that the game is rigged can help you feel better right away.

This inability to try is called “learned helplessness.” Animals, including humans, who repeatedly find themselves in bad situations from which they can’t escape may not even try to escape, even when given the opportunity.