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Tying yourself to the mast - by Cate Hall - Useful Fictions

usefulfictions.substack.com · 2,094 words · saved by 1 readers

Many people have a delusion about commitment. It’s a delusion that’s easy to come by, easy to believe, and, if allowed to linger, capable of sinking your chances of having a satisfying life. The delusion is that commitment is a matter of feeling something really hard — that you are committed when you have a state of emotional conviction so durable that you won’t waver in the future. You’re committed when you know in your heart that you’ll never cheat on your spouse, or abandon your book, or take money from an investor who’s not really mission-aligned. It’s a delusion because this simply doesn’t work. Emotions are too variable. If we’re counting on maintaining an emotional state to carry us through some long-term course of action, we’re completely doomed. It’s just not possible to know whether, when you wake up tomorrow, you will be animated by the warrior spirit within, or the neurotic vacillator that hides inside of you. We all have those aspects of self, and we are all at the mercy o

Many people have a delusion about commitment. It’s a delusion that’s easy to come by, easy to believe, and, if allowed to linger, capable of sinking your chances of having a satisfying life. The delusion is that commitment is a matter of feeling something really hard — that you are committed when you have a state of emotional conviction so durable that you won’t waver in the future. You’re committed when you know in your heart that you’ll never cheat on your spouse, or abandon your book, or take money from an investor who’s not really mission-aligned. It’s a delusion because this simply…

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