yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

Inaction Is A Slow Death


2m read
·Nov 8, 2024

Thank you.

Um.

[Music]

It's hard to take action. It's painful. Washing the dishes isn't fun. Meditation can be tedious. Waking up early is hard. The discomfort we feel in the face of action often paralyzes us from doing anything at all.

So we sleep in. We get lost in the rabbit hole of YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, letting clickbait decide for us what our next move will be while our lives slip into disarray. We resign to inaction as the solution to avoid the pain of action, subconsciously aware of the fact that our stagnation breeds destruction.

By avoiding the pain of action, we allow something worse to fester: the horror of watching opportunities pass us by, our relationships grow distant, our bills stack up, our families grow old. Pain is all around us. It's as much a part of life as death itself. No matter how impoverished or affluent your upbringing, pain is inescapable. It'll follow you wherever you go.

And this sobering reality leads many into nihilism and despair. But not everyone knows that there's another way to look at things. Pain can be bargained with. It takes from us, but it can also give back. It just depends on which pain we choose to embrace.

There are two types of pain: the pain of action and the pain of inaction. The pain of action is blunt, in your face, and forces you to grow. For every hour we suffer through sharpening our skills, being proactive, and restoring order, we don't reduce the amount of pain we face but rather we take it on the chin. We sign up for it up front.

And because of this voluntary acceptance, day after day, we gain the strength to shoulder it. By embracing pain instead of running from it, we are simultaneously transformed by it. We become someone we are proud of, someone that others can depend upon, which in turn gives meaning to the pain.

And it's this feeling of growth and progress that helps us feel useful to ourselves, useful to others, which gives the suffering a purpose.

[Music]

The pain of inaction, however, is the pain that eats away at you—a poison. It's slow burning, draining your will and decaying your soul. By descending into apathy, things disintegrate—entropy. By letting ourselves go, we lose self-respect. Negligence by vegging out on the couch for days on end, things fall into disorder.

Inaction is the holiday of fools who trade temporary discomfort for long-term existential suffering. So which pain will we choose? Action is a life-giving breath; inaction is a slow death.

[Music]

You.

More Articles

View All
Y Combinator Go-To-Market Jobs Expo, 2022
Foreign [Music] Thank you for joining us for YC’s 2022 Go to Market Expo. We’re highlighting companies in our portfolio that are hiring in ops, sales, marketing, and other non-technical roles. Now, while the broader economic conditions aren’t great, we’re…
Quit Seeking APPROVAL Like a Loser (Stoic SELF-RESPECT) | STOICISM
How often have you felt like you were going through the motions, living your life based on the expectations of others, like you’re an actor continuously seeking approval and validation from an invisible audience? If so, you’re not alone. Like you, million…
Should all locks have keys? Phones, Castles, Encryption, and You.
Hello Internet. We need to talk about locks: the physical and the digital. In the physical world, locks aren’t as good as you think they are. The lock on your door stops worries, not burglars, as two minutes of searching will reveal. Spend more, get more…
The 2020 Mortgage Crisis Explained
What’s up guys? It’s Graham here. So lately I’ve been hearing a lot of talk about this upcoming mortgage crisis. Not to mention, pretty much every single news website in existence is mentioning it. So let’s talk about it. And instead of creating some sor…
April 8, 2024 Total Solar Eclipse: Here's what you need to know -Smarter Every Day 295
Have you ever doubted something? And you’re like, yeah, I hear people talking about that. But then you experience it and you’re like, okay, I’m a believer. I’m in. I’m all in on this. That’s where I’m at with total solar eclipses. Back in 2017, I met a g…
Inventing Graphics on Cave Walls | Origins: The Journey of Humankind
Early humans communicated with pictures and markings painted on cave walls and began to gradually work out symbols. As these markings spread and were understood and accepted, then you had the widespread transmission of ideas. We can see the very early day…