Week 4 - "Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death" - Victor Frankl

You may notice some sections have been swapped in and out this week as I continue to figure out a format that I like. If there’s anything you’re interested in learning more or less about, please let me know! Cheers :)

---

Thoughts of the Week

Ever since I read “Man’s Search For Meaning” by Victor Frankl, I’ve adopted the idea of seeking out more suffering in my life. Sounds odd, but after learning from Frankl that suffering is an inevitable part of life, I found that applying this knowledge made my life easier.

Before I go further, I want to elaborate a little more on this idea of inevitable suffering. I believe as humans, there is an inherent desire in us to find hardship in our lives. For most people, it comes naturally, whether it’s responsibilities, expectations of others, or even expectations of ourselves. But even the wealthiest individuals who can pay their way out of “normal” challenges still find difficulty in other aspects of life, such as the mental afflictions that inevitably come with a high-paying career. Feel free to disagree with me on the hardships of the rich, but most people can relate to the day-to-day hardships I’m referring to.

With the knowledge there will be some kind of hardship or challenge that we encounter every day, we are given a choice. Either prepare for the inevitable, or hope that whatever happens doesn’t affect us too harshly. But how do you prepare for what you don’t know? Is that even possible?

I believe it is, but not in the traditional sense. That is, I don’t think there’s a way to prepare for an overbearing boss or how you’ll react when you get that C you didn’t expect on your midterm. Our daily hardships are too variable for us to be perfectly prepared for what we’re going to face. But if we can prepare our minds for the hardships these obstacles present, the size or scale of our problems becomes irrelevant.

So now we know we need to prepare our minds, but how do we do that? Personally, I am a large advocate for physical exercise as a tool for training the mind. I find that regardless of the activity, any moderate to high-intensity training puts your mind in a state of being where it must find a way to get through the activity. By consciously suffering in a controlled setting, you’re practicing for the challenges you are bound to encounter in the uncontrolled setting of life.

“The body should be treated rigorously, that it may not be disobedient to the mind” - Seneca

Other practices such as yoga or meditation can help bridge the gap between will and action which prepares the mind for the mental fluctuations that come with daily suffering. There are hundreds of more ways to prepare your mind, but a good way to determine if what you’re doing can help you prepare for your suffering is to ask yourself the following questions.

• Is what I’m doing difficult to do?

• Are there days when I don’t feel like doing this?

• Does doing this make me feel fulfilled?

I’ve found that if I can answer yes to these 3 questions, whatever I’m doing will help me prepare my mind and make me more resilient to my inevitable suffering.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this idea and if you have any practices that you use to ready yourself for your daily hardships.

Something to think about

1. Social Anxiety Makes Sense

   Generally, social anxiety seems like it would be something that should have been weeded out during our evolutionary process. It inhibits us from connecting with others which should decrease the chance of meeting someone with whom we could continue our genetic line. However, when viewed in the context of our ancient ancestors’ lives, it actually makes perfect sense.

   In those times, being a member of a group or tribe was the norm, and maintaining your position in that group was crucial for survival. If you were to be ostracized from the group, your chances of survival exponentially decreased. This kind of situation makes it almost obvious why social anxiety would be an advantageous trait to develop. Being able to sense when your position is threatened would be paramount to knowing when you need to take action to remain in your group. ¹

   Fortunately, we no longer live in a society where being in a group plays such a large role in our morality. So the next time you feel out of place in a group or situation, remember that your social anxiety makes sense, but not in the context of today’s world.

What I learned This Week

1. Region Beta Paradox

   The region beta paradox is the problem that is created when we find ourselves in a situation where something is just tolerable enough to endure, but not in our best interests to continue. It’s similar to choosing to walk distances less than a mile, but drive distances greater. Effectively, you’d be traveling 2 miles faster than 1. That is to say, a bad situation may actually be better than a good one.

   We can see the paradox in our lives in situations where we face circumstances that are bearable enough to get through, but not in our best interests to continue. For example, in a job with a bad boss, if the situation is tolerable enough, you won’t quit. But if the boss were objectively terrible, you’d be motivated to quit and look for employment elsewhere. This is the region beta paradox in action. Sometimes, a worse situation can be better than an okay one because of its ability to galvanize change in us.²

2. Present Preference Bias

   The present preference bias refers to our inclination to place greater value on an immediate reward, rather than a larger one in the future. However, this idea diminishes as the time between the present and future rewards increases. Research shows that as the time distance between rewards becomes distant, individuals generally won’t mind waiting extra time for a larger reward.³

Interesting content I consumed this week

The Incredible Logistics of Formula 1

TLDR: This article breaks down the process Formula one teams go through to race 20 different countries every season.

Richard Shotton - 8 Fascinating Psychological Biases

TLDR: Easily one of the most fascinating episodes from my favorite podcast. I highly recommend giving this a listen if you’re at all interested in the psychology behind your decisions.

---

That’s all for this week! If you have any thoughts or suggestions on ways to improve this newsletter or parts you think could be in or excluded, please let me know! Feel free to comment below or message me on Instagram or email @tarun.vedula. Have a great week!

-Tarun

1. Discover Magazine, “If Humans Are Social Creatures, Why Did Social Anxiety Evolve?”, Allison Whitten, April 10, 2021

2. The Joe Rogan Experience, #1851 - Chris Williamson, podcast audio, August 2, 2022

3. Present bias. BehavioralEconomics.com, The BE Hub