Sara, you are the only writer I've come across that tackles these unpleasant aspects of the human experience (envy, insecurity, ego) with such frankness and honesty. I find it really refreshing. Thank you for sharing your perspective!
Thank you for such an honest article about entitlement. The hardest to overcome is ego/pride. After volunteering to feed the homeless a few times, 2 things happened:
1. overwhelming sense of fulfillment
2. Looking at my small apartment and thinking I had entirely too much.
Now, it's the decades younger worker that triggers the ego. The challenge is real. It's humbling and humiliating to see this in myself.
Once I had a job that required me (required me!) to travel to beautiful parts of the world and stay at five-star resorts. Even though I was *working* at these locations, doing challenging, stressful stuff and not sunbathing, it took no time for me to get accustomed to a lifestyle of absurd privilege, and to pretend that I "deserved" to be in those settings.
The stories I could tell you about the irritations I started to pick up on — ! ('why is this bathroom floor not heated??!')
After noticing an embarrassing sense of entitlement creeping into my life, I worked on becoming more conscious of the privilege I was receiving.
Sometimes this meant expressing genuine care/interest in all the people working behind the scenes at the resort (let me tell you, you have to be very patient and well regulated to be successful in hospitality).
Sometimes it meant just remarking aloud to myself, "Wow, this feels like a dream state. I'm grateful to be here."
Sometimes it just meant walking up grungy stairwells instead of taking mirrored elevators. Privilege has narcotic qualities.
yes, I experienced something similar when I booked my first "luxury" vacation ever (meaning, hotels nicer than Hampton Inn). I was surprised by how much paying a lot of money for something turned me into Shane in the White Lotus. Wait, no plunge pool?
I just listened to all 2 hours of this before reading your pleasant post: https://youtu.be/3eBN_9rMoVI/. I think you are both saying the same thing, just in a different language. Yours, written in pretty prose is an example of the power problem, and his message is also cautionary, but spoken like a true Professor of Science (very long-winded). Power and Privilege appear to go hand in hand in hand, even when the money is Monopoly fake, so thank you for bringing up that experiment. But the Power & Privilege problem seems intractable, considering our evolutionary history. We will be cleaning up this mess... forever.
Sara, you are the only writer I've come across that tackles these unpleasant aspects of the human experience (envy, insecurity, ego) with such frankness and honesty. I find it really refreshing. Thank you for sharing your perspective!
Thank you, Francesca!
Thank you for such an honest article about entitlement. The hardest to overcome is ego/pride. After volunteering to feed the homeless a few times, 2 things happened:
1. overwhelming sense of fulfillment
2. Looking at my small apartment and thinking I had entirely too much.
Now, it's the decades younger worker that triggers the ego. The challenge is real. It's humbling and humiliating to see this in myself.
Thank you for sharing that, Irma! Yes, its a struggle but so great that you are able to look honestly at this stuff.
Only somewhat related, but:
Once I had a job that required me (required me!) to travel to beautiful parts of the world and stay at five-star resorts. Even though I was *working* at these locations, doing challenging, stressful stuff and not sunbathing, it took no time for me to get accustomed to a lifestyle of absurd privilege, and to pretend that I "deserved" to be in those settings.
The stories I could tell you about the irritations I started to pick up on — ! ('why is this bathroom floor not heated??!')
After noticing an embarrassing sense of entitlement creeping into my life, I worked on becoming more conscious of the privilege I was receiving.
Sometimes this meant expressing genuine care/interest in all the people working behind the scenes at the resort (let me tell you, you have to be very patient and well regulated to be successful in hospitality).
Sometimes it meant just remarking aloud to myself, "Wow, this feels like a dream state. I'm grateful to be here."
Sometimes it just meant walking up grungy stairwells instead of taking mirrored elevators. Privilege has narcotic qualities.
yes, I experienced something similar when I booked my first "luxury" vacation ever (meaning, hotels nicer than Hampton Inn). I was surprised by how much paying a lot of money for something turned me into Shane in the White Lotus. Wait, no plunge pool?
I just listened to all 2 hours of this before reading your pleasant post: https://youtu.be/3eBN_9rMoVI/. I think you are both saying the same thing, just in a different language. Yours, written in pretty prose is an example of the power problem, and his message is also cautionary, but spoken like a true Professor of Science (very long-winded). Power and Privilege appear to go hand in hand in hand, even when the money is Monopoly fake, so thank you for bringing up that experiment. But the Power & Privilege problem seems intractable, considering our evolutionary history. We will be cleaning up this mess... forever.
Thank you, that film looks good!