Adapt or Die: An Argument for Voluntary Hardship

Adapt or Die

Charles Darwin once said, "it is not the strongest of a species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives.  It is the one that is most adaptable to change."

Now fast forward 130 years.  We now have a world where change and adaptation are completely unnecessary.  A world so soft and automated that the idea of change actually insights fear, panic and anxiety in an overwhelming majority of the population.

We are currently living in the pinnacle of human civilization.  Due to technological advances and genius minds, the vast majority of people live a life almost completely free of struggle and adversity.  While human advances have allowed most to reach prosperity.  They don't come without drawbacks.  We now live so comfortably that humans are regressing to a more primitive form.  We are now in the midst of a devolution of human kind.  

Adaptation occurs as a result of adversity, resilience and overcoming an obstacle.  I'm sure that Darwin didn't envision the different finches on the Galapagos Islands became adaptable to their food sources by ordering it on Amazon.  Instead, the birds had to adapt over time to survive.

What if survival was removed from the equation?  What if everything was delivered automatically without even a hint of inconvenience or struggle.  What then?

You're currently seeing the result of above scenario played out in human form.  Humans now bitch and complain about the slightest inconvenience.  We argue and fight over the stupidest fucking topics.  We're so soft that even the smallest conflict sends us into a tailspin of emotional turmoil.  We've completely lost sight of all the things that have gotten our society to where it is today and we've traded it all in for convenience and pleasure.  

We no longer see the great thinkers, brave men and women or strong leaders.  We see a society of emotionally unintelligent people who are unable to use reasoned choice.  We've digressed to that of our ancestors who follow herd and tribal mentality.  We squabble over things that hold little value in society while taking for granted the things that have been the foundation of our evolution.  

We then throw our hands up and can't figure out why such a prosperous society has preventable disease rates on the rise, or where citizens are killing themselves at an alarming rate.  We can't comprehend why opioid and drug related deaths have spiked and where happiness is at an all time low. 

Maybe for humans it's not about the lack of struggle.  Maybe convenience and pleasure are not the best things to be striving towards.  Just maybe, this mentality is contributing to the devolution of the human race.  Maybe we should be striving towards something different?

The argument for voluntary hardship  

Voluntary hardship is the idea that you should add less enjoyable things to your routine so that you can experience what it would be like if you actually had to go without the things you're used to.  Or as the Stoic Seneca put it:

“Set aside a certain number of days, during which you shall be content with the scantiest and cheapest fare, with coarse and rough dress, saying to yourself the while: “Is this the condition that I feared?” It is precisely in times of immunity from care that the soul should toughen itself beforehand for occasions of greater stress, and it is while Fortune is kind that it should fortify itself against her violence. In days of peace the soldier performs maneuvers, throws up earthworks with no enemy in sight, and wearies himself by gratuitous toil, in order that he may be equal to unavoidable toil. If you would not have a man flinch when the crisis comes, train him before it comes.”

Do you want to thrive under pressure or crumble? Do you want to be more immune to disease, injury or pain? Do you want mental strength, resiliency, grit or perseverance?

The only way to achieve these great results is by adding inconvenience and hardship into your life. Society is not going to give you the tools for individual success. By doing this you not only better yourself, but as a collective it will lead to an improved society.

I'm also sorry to tell you that these things aren't achieved by sitting on your ass in convenience and pressing a button on a screen. The traits mentioned are the foundation of what has gotten our society to the point it is at today. They are also the traits that sadly are non-existent to many.

Now, if you're the type of person that gets upset when the WIFI goes down or when your Amazon order shows up a day later than the tracking info, you're part of the fucking problem.

While there is a lot of blame being tossed around about the state of society. In the end, we can only blame ourselves. All today's problems are human problems. Maybe if we focused on continually bettering ourselves and society, we would continue to grow.

For me, 2020 is the year of focused adaptation and voluntary hardships. It's time we started building some positive traits back into society. In the end, we all end up in the same place.

Adapt or Die