I’ve Stopped Trying to Live Beyond My Capacity

All of the self-help books were wrong…

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I’m convinced I have some condition that they haven’t come up with a name for yet. I’m not even sure what you’d call it, or what the symptoms are — I just know I’ve got it. It’s a condition that makes me unable to make peace with the fact that I’m a limited being.

Some might call it the devil, others my sinful nature.

I call it that and more.

It’s something along the lines of denial, of an inability to deal with my own limits, mortality, and utter inability to do everything that I want to do.

I’m really bad at stopping. I’m never the one to hold up my hands and say “enough!” when it comes to being bombarded with information, tasks, or projects. I’m always being recruited by the latest “get rich quick scheme” or the notion that I can, and should, be doing more.

Now, I think I’m quitting it all.

The term ‘hustle culture’ didn’t emerge until the 1970s, but the idea was there long before then.

The earliest self-development and go-getter literature included works such as How to Win Friends and Influence People, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, As a Man Thinketh, and The Power of Positive Thinking.