Dear Every Fake Spartan Bro,
I see you out there, using this argument as a subconscious attempt to validate your identity; an identity which – like that of many Americans – is one built largely on the hardships you’ve had to overcome.
You know the argument I’m talking about. You’ve tried (weakly, and frequently) to contend that rigorous work – not comfort – is the reason that society has progressed through the ages. I won’t try to argue that progress is possible without hard work or without triumph over adversity – it isn’t, and it would be folly to think otherwise.
HOWEVER, I have a bone to pick with you about COMFORT. Our society LITERALLY progressed precisely because of people who DID want comfort – and security, and beauty, and sustainable abundance, and health – not only for themselves but for their fellow humans as well. Please check this book out, merely as one amongst numerous examples of how the desire – nay, the NEED – for comfort has shaped society: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home:_A_Short_History_of_an_Idea.
The truth that is the human desire for progress that lives hand-in-hand with “frivolous” things like comfort and art goes back to the prehistoric era. Don’t believe me? Check out Acheulean hand axes. It’s a tool! It’s a work of art made while chillin’! It’s a pretty thing to attract a mate! Life is all about that sweet, sweet balance of productivity, creativity, community, and leisure, my dude.
Now…your bullshit “Spartan” ideology that only some crucible of great pressure can produce diamonds has a seed of merit, I’ll admit: humans DO need to be challenged to grow and hone themselves.
However, that seed falsely implies that unnecessary personal environmental duress is some mystical key to greatness. It isn’t. Don’t get me wrong – I’m ALL for teaching and training kids to be their strongest, fastest, toughest, smartest, most mentally- and physically-resilient selves. Hell, I went through JROTC during the school year and to military school in the summers, and I have ZERO regrets about that. But within that context, I also had free meals, family time, funded art classes, minimal to no homework (made possible by highly-efficient small class sizes where instructional time and value was paramount). I had support allocated for my hobbies, and time carved out for a full eight hours of sleep.
Ohhh, Fake Spartan Bro…you can see what I’m getting at, I’m sure. Your whole “diamonds are made under pressure” schtick? – it just doesn’t work, because it doesn’t apply.
Since humans aren’t stones, here’s a different metaphor that might be more apt: a muscle. What happens if a muscle is placed under unnecessary duress, more than expert sources and the muscle’s own experience KNOW it can handle at a given time? Bad shit, right? Yeah. Strain that results in malfunction, and injury that prevents that muscle from being able to do its best work. Now what happens when that damaged muscle isn’t given time to recuperate, but instead is forced to get back to work too soon? Shit gets worse, amirite? Sometimes that deferred recuperation and deferred maintenance can result in permanent issues.
But what happens when a muscle is given expert coaching, a suite of nourishing resources, and both the coach and the owner of that muscle listen intently to the muscle’s feedback? What happens when that muscle isn’t unsustainably strained, but rather presented with a series of ever-escalating safe stressors with intermittent rest periods? And all of this is supported by situationally-appropriate challenges, abundant nourishment, and rest when required (and sometimes just because you NEED a damn rest day)?
Well, that muscle gets freakin’ SWOLL, of course!
But the other muscle – the damaged muscle that had too much asked of it for no good reason, when everyone knew damn well it wasn’t the right program for that muscle? That muscle is now defined not by its strength, nor its capabilities for ongoing growth – it is now defined by its trauma, its weaknesses, and its need to be consistently supported by all the other muscles around it.
All of this to say, Fake Spartan Bro, that some not-insignificant measure of comfort IS in fact the reason that society has progressed as far as it has…and that the ongoing erasure of comfort from the lives of working Americans isn’t just a crappy feeling – it’s culturally dangerous. Without rest and comfort, there is no resiliency and no productivity – but aside from that, rest and comfort are human rights in their own right, and even longstanding American rights (“…the Pursuit of Happiness”, anyone?)
So please, Fake Spartan Bro, spare us your tirades. You are a muscle just like the rest of us. You get tired, too – but pushing through it is only noble and useful unto a point…but that point is not to failure and then some. Someone overworked you once – emotionally, financially, physically. But you don’t have to keep wearing your unhealed trauma like a badge of honor just because it’s too late for you to recover from it. Save the angry, empty bravado for the ones who overworked you.
And when you’re ready to stop pretending at your old strength and actually heal, we’ll be here to support you. Go ahead – let yourself be comfortable. Rest can be radical, if you let it.
Warmly,
peachboot828