The subtle art of not giving a fuck could be said to be a wake-up call for the majority of us middle-class citizens that are finding ourselves drowning in an existential crisis brought upon by mass media and consumerism. We don’t even bother lamenting about finding something important and meaningful in our lives because we are too busy pursuing things that mean absolutely nothing to us. Everyone has a unique life, plagued with problems that they think needs to be solved. In truth, the only way to overcome these problems is to find meaning in life itself before you are able to sustain the effort needed to overcome the problems you have to face. The way about to this is actually through not giving a fuck about more things that you can acquire, and instead give a fuck about things that align with your personal values.
Many times, you will find that in conventional self-help books, they love to tell you about how you should be visualising success and thinking about the ideal version of yourself, someone who you wish to become. The author begs to differ, instead opting for the idea that this would merely reinforce the fact that you’re not that person. We can start instead by giving fewer fucks about what we want to become, and instead focus on the areas that are truly important to us in life. Having a better life doesn’t mean having a nicer job, a sports car or even a prettier significant other. The more we crave for such things, the deeper we’ll be sucked into the material crisis that plagues the people of this generation.
The true problem here lies with our existence and spirituality. Because the world is always coming out with something new for us to buy, we will never be satisfied. Trying to keep up with it will only bring us sorrow and dissatisfaction in life. Instead, everyone should learn to prioritise and focus their thoughts on personal values that they hold true to themselves. That is perhaps one of the hardest things to do and not many people are capable of achieving that in their lives.
A solution to this would instead be to focus on the journey and never the goal. If you focus on a goal, your happiness will be short lived and more too often not as rewarding. Confine yourself to a task, an art, a speciality in every aspect of your life. It is only by investing in this speciality that you will be granted the depth of experience, one that is far more rewarding than that of multiple rendezvous. Through all of these, know that the rejection of alternative will liberate you and help you to become a much better person. Grab this book if you’re in need of finding out what to do in life as it points you to a direction and offers you an insight into one particular way of living your life: By not giving a fuck.