(no subject)

[psocoptera]

Do you ever suspect that your life is some kind of zero-sum game? I wonder about this. The swings of my moods tend to be such that a particularly intense or exciting happy couple of days is followed by a particularly bad low, and, hey, spend a night feeling really really *good*, get food poisoning two days later...

I don't actually believe life is a zero-sum game, or at least I don't believe it *ought* to be, I really hate that theory and things that seem to be based on it. I believe the best happiness is self-promoting, and doesn't need misery as a contrast, and really Aristotle covered all of this much better than I could, there's just something about being really tired and yet awake with food poisoning that makes me feel like I must be being punished for something. And, like, rationally I know it's eating those leftovers, not excess, unwarranted happiness, but, gah, had been so psyched by the thought of maybe for once managing to reestablish an even keel after an emotional high without badness, and, yeah, I guess still counts, but, ugh... I bet even Aristotle was grumpy and incoherent when he had food poisoning, dude.

Comments

[irilyth]

I'm not sure I've ever had food poisoning, and I'm not sure this is entirely the same thing you're talking about, but I sometimes feel supersitious in ways that seem dumb when I think about them, but which nevertheless get to me. Not so much about zero-sum; my big one is that saying something aloud changes how likely it is to happen. For example, saying "I'm not sure I've ever had food poisoning": As I typed that, I couldn't help thinking "jeez, now watch, I'll go and wake up tomorrow with food poisoning; I really shouldn't say things like that out loud". Feh.

Happiness is not a zero sum game. (hug)

[rhoddlet.livejournal.com]

You are not incoherent, and having food poisoning gives you an excellent reason to be grumpy. Hope you're feeling better by the time you read this.