Gomer thinks of quitting the show

About this Episode

(sorry for the audio - Gomer's recording gear was left at Church when he did EKSB during his lunchbreak, which seems to fit the theme nicely)

"The animal wrests the whip from its master and whips itself in order to become master, not knowing that this is only a fantasy produced by a new knot in the master's whiplash. (Kafka, quoted by Byung-Chul Han in his _The Nation _piece.)

Gomer contemplated quitting because he's doing a hundred things and realized that so is Luke with his Notre Dame executive degree. It's a bit much, but we are doing this to ourselves. Over and over again. My dad worked a fulltime job, volunteered with the Knights of Columbus, and was a dad. He didn't write a blog or "create content" for his tribe. He was a dad when he wasn't a credit department supervisor for Texaco's refinery division.

Side hustle culture, burnout culture, FIRE aftermath, etc. are all telling Gomer one thing: "You're burning out and you're doing this to yourself."

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Episode Links

• The Tiredness Virus | The Nation — In one of his aphorisms he writes: “The animal wrests the whip from its master and whips itself in order to become master, not knowing that this is only a fantasy produced by a new knot in the master’s whiplash.” This permanent self-flagellation makes us tired and, ultimately, depressed. In a certain respect, neoliberalism is based on self-flagellation.
• The Burnout Society: Han, Byung-Chul: 9780804795098: Amazon.com: Books — Byung-Chul Han interprets the spreading malaise as an inability to manage negative experiences in an age characterized by excessive positivity and the universal availability of people and goods. Stress and exhaustion are not just personal experiences, but social and historical phenomena as well. Denouncing a world in which every against-the-grain response can lead to further disempowerment, he draws on literature, philosophy, and the social and natural sciences to explore the stakes of sacrificing intermittent intellectual reflection for constant neural connection.
• The Disappearance of Rituals: A Topology of the Present - Kindle edition by Han, Byung-Chul, Steuer, Daniel. Politics & Social Sciences Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com. — Untrammelled neoliberalism and the inexorable force of production have produced a 21st century crisis of community: a narcissistic cult of authenticity and mass turning-inward are among the pathologies engendered by it. We are individuals afloat in an atomised society, where the loss of the symbolic structures inherent in ritual behaviour has led to overdependence on the contingent to steer identity. 
• Girl, Stop Apologizing: A Shame-Free Plan for Embracing and Achieving Your Goals: Hollis, Rachel: 9781400209606: Amazon.com: Books — Hollis identifies the excuses to let go of, the behaviors to adopt, and the skills to acquire on the path to growth, confidence, and believing in yourself.
• Kevin Barry Reads V. S. Pritchett | The New Yorker — Kevin Barry joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “A Family Man,” by V. S. Pritchett, which was published in The New Yorker in 1977. Barry is a winner of the International Dublin Literary Award and the author of six books of fiction, most recently the story collection “That Old Country Music,” which came out in 2020.
• Amazon.com: The Read-Aloud Handbook: Seventh Edition: 9780143121602: Trelease, Jim: Books — This updated edition of The Read-Aloud Handbook discusses the benefits, the rewards, and the importance of reading aloud to children of a new generation. Supported by delightful anecdotes as well as the latest research (including the good and bad news on digital learning), The Read-Aloud Handbook offers proven techniques and strategies for helping children discover the pleasures of reading and setting them on the road to becoming lifelong readers.
• Amazon.com: The Read-Aloud Family: Making Meaningful and Lasting Connections with Your Kids: 9780310350323: Mackenzie, Sarah: Books — This is a book my wife recommends to relunctant homeschooling families.