It's amazing how prediction markets can lower the bar on just about anything. Isn't it fun to bet on people's loss of property and perhaps even their lives? Isn't it? It certainly is if you're dead inside! Well, let's just look at the Zombies in the current administration! There's your model for a sinking hole of depravity. Hey, let's bet on how long they will last???
I hate how gambling has become so utterly normalized now in our society. Commercials on TV, ads on social media, now these awful prediction markets. Addictive behavior is troublesome enough as it is, now we've normalized it.
There are 2 things I don't get about humanity. Well, probably way more than 2, but these 2 really perplex me because when I look inside, I just don't see the attraction. I don't get why people enjoy watching sports. To me it just seems utterly boring. Doing sports, doing intense physical activities, that I get. But add in competition and an audience, and I just don't see it (from the audience point of view). And part of it is, why would anyone case if "my" team beat's someone else's team? Why identify with a team based on something like locality or what school you attended or what country you happen to live in or things like that? And I'm not saying I somehow better than others because I don't get the attraction. I think it's more like I'm somewhere on the autism spectrum, though undiagnosed, so what I like and don't like is to some extent abnormal.
To connect this with what the article is about, the other thing I just don't get is what the attraction is to betting on things. First, I just don't feel the attraction, the excitement. But there's also the reasoning aspect. I mean, everyone knows that any betting system that makes money has got to work in such a way that, on average, bettors lose more money than they make. So it just doesn't make rational sense to imagine that somehow you are one of the lucky ones who comes out ahead. And then to feel excitement about it. I just don't see where that comes from.
Another area where I'm confused about human behavior, but which I do understand the impulses from looking within, is status seeking. I wish I could avoid the feelings, but I do want to be admired and I don't want to be looked down on. Life would be so much easier, I imagine, if one just felt okay with oneself and didn't care about the opinions of others concerning oneself. But I can't seem to help caring, and it does cause a lot of discomfort (and occasionally a sense of fitting in and being appreciated). So maybe you could help me work on this issue by liking my comment!
When someone judges me, a lot of the time they are not revealing some deep truth about me. They are revealing what they are carrying.
What they choose to think about me affects them far more than it affects me. That judgment lives in their mind, their body, their nervous system, their spirit.
That does not mean I never listen to feedback. It just means I stopped treating everyone’s opinion as my assignment.
How another person judges me is their problem.
And the same is true in reverse. What I choose to think about others is my responsibility. If I sit around judging, resenting, or obsessing over people, I am the one who has to live with that poison.
How much time do you have? Honestly, after being Type-A much of my life, chasing after achievement and recognition, having a nervous breakdown in my mid-to late 30s, and then getting diagnosed with a life-threatening illness in my early 40s, I began to re-prioritize what's most important in my life.
I finally had an executive leadership coach tell me "let go of or delegate the commitments, tasks, or roles that don't bring you joy," and learn to say no. Hardest thing I ever did, but I put in the work and did it. Around the time I was turning 50, and I thought, this is it, I don't need to impress anybody anymore. I don't need to listen to society's voice saying I'm not good enough, or I need that title, that job, that whatever. I just stopped caring and let go. I was confident enough in who I was, and what I had to offer, and shifted my focus and energy on building up my team and mentoring others for success. I didn't need anything else to advance myself or my career.
That was my journey. I pray you find your path to letting go. That is one of the main reasons I subscribe to VMB, many of his writings help reiterate this for me.
It's amazing how prediction markets can lower the bar on just about anything. Isn't it fun to bet on people's loss of property and perhaps even their lives? Isn't it? It certainly is if you're dead inside! Well, let's just look at the Zombies in the current administration! There's your model for a sinking hole of depravity. Hey, let's bet on how long they will last???
I hate how gambling has become so utterly normalized now in our society. Commercials on TV, ads on social media, now these awful prediction markets. Addictive behavior is troublesome enough as it is, now we've normalized it.
There are 2 things I don't get about humanity. Well, probably way more than 2, but these 2 really perplex me because when I look inside, I just don't see the attraction. I don't get why people enjoy watching sports. To me it just seems utterly boring. Doing sports, doing intense physical activities, that I get. But add in competition and an audience, and I just don't see it (from the audience point of view). And part of it is, why would anyone case if "my" team beat's someone else's team? Why identify with a team based on something like locality or what school you attended or what country you happen to live in or things like that? And I'm not saying I somehow better than others because I don't get the attraction. I think it's more like I'm somewhere on the autism spectrum, though undiagnosed, so what I like and don't like is to some extent abnormal.
To connect this with what the article is about, the other thing I just don't get is what the attraction is to betting on things. First, I just don't feel the attraction, the excitement. But there's also the reasoning aspect. I mean, everyone knows that any betting system that makes money has got to work in such a way that, on average, bettors lose more money than they make. So it just doesn't make rational sense to imagine that somehow you are one of the lucky ones who comes out ahead. And then to feel excitement about it. I just don't see where that comes from.
Another area where I'm confused about human behavior, but which I do understand the impulses from looking within, is status seeking. I wish I could avoid the feelings, but I do want to be admired and I don't want to be looked down on. Life would be so much easier, I imagine, if one just felt okay with oneself and didn't care about the opinions of others concerning oneself. But I can't seem to help caring, and it does cause a lot of discomfort (and occasionally a sense of fitting in and being appreciated). So maybe you could help me work on this issue by liking my comment!
I stopped caring what people think about me when I turned 50. Very liberating, you should try it!
How did you do it?
When someone judges me, a lot of the time they are not revealing some deep truth about me. They are revealing what they are carrying.
What they choose to think about me affects them far more than it affects me. That judgment lives in their mind, their body, their nervous system, their spirit.
That does not mean I never listen to feedback. It just means I stopped treating everyone’s opinion as my assignment.
How another person judges me is their problem.
And the same is true in reverse. What I choose to think about others is my responsibility. If I sit around judging, resenting, or obsessing over people, I am the one who has to live with that poison.
That realization helped me let go.
How much time do you have? Honestly, after being Type-A much of my life, chasing after achievement and recognition, having a nervous breakdown in my mid-to late 30s, and then getting diagnosed with a life-threatening illness in my early 40s, I began to re-prioritize what's most important in my life.
I finally had an executive leadership coach tell me "let go of or delegate the commitments, tasks, or roles that don't bring you joy," and learn to say no. Hardest thing I ever did, but I put in the work and did it. Around the time I was turning 50, and I thought, this is it, I don't need to impress anybody anymore. I don't need to listen to society's voice saying I'm not good enough, or I need that title, that job, that whatever. I just stopped caring and let go. I was confident enough in who I was, and what I had to offer, and shifted my focus and energy on building up my team and mentoring others for success. I didn't need anything else to advance myself or my career.
That was my journey. I pray you find your path to letting go. That is one of the main reasons I subscribe to VMB, many of his writings help reiterate this for me.
P.S. I don't understand or follow sports either 😁
Blessings 🙏🏻
Thank you for sharing that, I pray your insights continue.
I also don't understand or follow sports.
Amen my brother! Keep the scrolls unrolling....
This is terrible! My community lost dozens of homes this weekend because of a wildfire, and it is suspected arson. It's heartbreaking.
So many amens. This is not how we want to be formed, or how we're all going to get through the climate crisis.