1 Idea Weekly Newsletter of Manoj Radhakrishna- Issue #24
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Relying on Convenience
Hello Hello,
How are you doing today?
I hope you're having a great day. In today's edition, I wanted to share some thoughts with you. This came to me recently as I was cycling, and I thought they might be worth pondering.
Right now I'm reading a book by Oliver Burkeman called Four Thousand Weeks. In one chapter, he talks about how we all seem to want convenience more than anything else. If there's an app or a service that will make something easier for us, then we use it.
And that makes sense—I agree with him.
But the point he makes in his book is that these conveniences may not be making us any happier. And that made me think . . .
What if we all started thinking more about what makes us happy? What if we stopped relying on convenience so much and tried doing things the old-fashioned way instead?
Would it make us happier?
For example, it's a lot more convenient if you can order groceries online and have them delivered to your house. And it's obviously not convenient when you have to get out of the house and go shopping for groceries in person. But by going out into the world, you get to interact with people, experience life from different perspectives, and actually meet your neighbor's. These micro interactions enrich this time we have here on this planet.
And that's just one example! There are so many ways we can enrich our lives by doing things that are difficult or uncomfortable:
Like waiting in line at a store, dealing with slow service at restaurants and stores… these things may not seem like much on their own, but when you add them up over time, they make us feel as though we matter.
When you are able to see the world from a different perspective, you will see how beautiful it is to live in reality.
You have food to eat, a place to stay, people who care and a body that works. Don't waste your time just being online or ignorant of what's going on around you. Don’t waste your time being sick in front of a screen or chasing an imaginary status in a metaverse.
Here's the thing: Life isn't about being easy or convenient. It's about living well. And when you look at it that way, those little inconveniences start making sense—they add up to something bigger than themselves.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.
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Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.
Manoj