Apathetic in a good way
Does anyone else notice that their general apathy may actually be a blessing in disguise? For example, when I was a teen, I felt depression for a solid few years without break. I considered suicide, as most do at that age, but only attempted a couple of times before apathy set in, and I couldn't be bothered with attempting anymore.
In a more recent example, a lot of people are getting stressed over the current political atmosphere in the US, but for the most part, the people in office do not directly effect me or my life as a low-wage call center operator living in a studio apartment and planning on going to college. As such, I feel generally apathetic towards the whole thing.
Amusingly, most of the people I know are conspiracy theorists, and as such are strongly against the idea of being spied on, but I generally don't care if people watch me or not, and instead assume that they do it anyways, so why get upset?
I agree that certain kinds of apathy can be useful; realistically a person can only effectively handle so much, so to be bothered by everything would be quite... hindering.
Thus apathy over certain non-essential things can be helpful, I think; though sometimes apathy can go too far and affect a person's total outlook on everything and everyone, and certain things are worth caring about. Still, apathy over certain things is necessary to function well.
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Christian, Aspergian, Recovering Bundle Of Neurotic Anxieties.
Well, in relation to this, I have the seemingly common issue of not feeling sympathy. I feel empathy, sometimes to ridiculous levels, but I tend not to pity others. A recent example of this was a story that a friend shared with me. In a nutshell, she was on watch (being a soldier) when the person with her committed suicide. I empathized with her, understanding the shock of witnessing that event, but I feel no sympathy for the person who died. In fact, I look upon him as being rather stupid, since the reason for the death was simple heartbreak.
Then again, I am also a complete monster, so there's that.
I usually feel at my best when I am feeling somewhat apathetic. My levels of self-consciousness markedly reduce and my confidence when speaking to others invariably improves. From my personal experience, life is much easier when you don't give a f**k about anything. I accepted a long time that I am a weak-minded schmuck, and I don't see how anything is going to change that. Whilst I have 'achieved' diddly squat in life, I refuse to take myself too seriously. We're all going to die eventually anyway. But, admittedly, being unperturbed by seemingly everything hasn't exactly made me the most popular guy in the world.
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"Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. " - Special Agent Dale Cooper, Twin Peaks
gotcha
connotation versus denotation
apathy could be bad (usual interpretation), in that things seem hopeless. then that seems like there is no reason to do anything. some definitions of clinical depression include the word "hopeless."
apathy could be good, in that if it doesn't matter, then that's like a security blanket. like even if things go wrong, which they eventually will, what difference does it make ultimately? not much.
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likewise, the word "care" has a dictionary definition "to attend to". "care" could be legal/illegal, moral/immoral, good/bad. the only thing is that, to "care" someone has to waste resources, such as hours, dollars, calories, et cetera.
furthermore, the word "important" does not necessarily mean that something is good. hitler is important.
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there could be advantages to something, that you did not notice, b/c you were not paying attention. for example, clinical depression sounds bad. but at least it is familiar and stable.
when i was young, i wanted my precious lil "parents" to send me to take karate. they did not. and at that time, i thought it was a bad thing. b/c i assumed karate matched my fantasies. but everyone's experience of karate is different. there could be disadvantages in something, that you do not know about, b/c you do not have that experience. some karate instructors have gotten convicted of rape. (of course, the world contains plenty of karate instructors. the chances that at least 2 have gotten convicted of rape are pretty high.)
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