Insanity is...

Exploring what it means to settle in lifestyle and not in ambition. Are you a part of history repeating itself?

Abstract

By taking a break from the ‘Belonging’ series, more context is provided for this extended exploration of community, connection, and culture.

This post is premised on:

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

Normally, we would associate this saying with having multiple attempts at the same thing with the same approach and ending up with undesirable results.

In this post we look at a lifelong timescale, where our decisions today go further than our approach.

Through experiences and perspective, we take the meaning of a well-known quote to a reflection point allowing us to better understand ourselves.

History repeats itself and we hear the same old stories, recycled so many times you would have thought the present idolises the past.

Sometimes it does.

However, the future isn’t guaranteed and history is merely a guide for what is possible.

Something I picked out from Part 2 of the ‘How do you manage stress?’ series was:

“You can read cautionary tales from other people and study case studies but you can only really learn the lessons when you make the mistakes yourself… I wish I had failed earlier so I could have learned those lessons earlier.”

This was said in relation to ADHD and stress but for me it had a wider meaning.

When we look at it from the perspective of our life trajectory, it hits even harder.

One thing that delays this cycle of learning for ourselves is following convention.

This is how others do it and therefore this is how I should do it.

But an even harsher point is that following the crowd and expecting different results is just delusion based on the hope of luck.