As Byung-Chul Han (2012) explains in his work "The society of fatigue ", In our century, a new performance society is emerging made up of gyms, office towers, genetic laboratories, banks and large shopping centers. The individual has become an individual "of performance".
This German philosopher already warns of the dangers of living under the cult of production and performance. The inherent evil of our time is fatigue. This fatigue stems from the feeling and imposed belief of being able to do everything: "I can", or rather "I must ...", "I must measure up", "I must be the best", "I must get it ", etc.
One ends up being a slave, in a state of extreme violence against oneself, a victim of a system that leads us to self-exploitation, to continue demanding more and more of ourselves, and leads us to the conclusion that nothing is ever enough.
Companies and society subtly impose goals on us that we strive to achieve, but it is we ourselves who demand ourselves, in a state of constant demand, to reach what is established.
“The excess of work and performance is exacerbated and becomes self-exploitation. This is much more effective than exploitation by others, as it is accompanied by a feeling of freedom. The exploiter is at the same time the exploited. "(Byung-Chul Han)
The priority is to be active, to attend to different fronts at the same time, to carry out endless days that never leave us the feeling of being productive enough, and to achieve quality standards, often well above our real possibilities..
We live fast, we attend to a high amount of stimuli without delving into any of them, we isolate ourselves because there is no time for everything, we do not stop for a moment because just doing nothing is seen as negative.
Behind the belief that we are capable of everything, that with effort we can achieve everything and that we can reach the top, hides the other side of the coin and its dangers: If you do not get what you want, you enter into a destructive reproach, everything depends on you, your will and your effort.
The result of being in permanent alert and in a state of search is the proliferation of symptoms and diseases such as Attention Dispersion, Permanent Agitation, Anxiety, Stress, Borderline Personality Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or Burn-Out Syndrome.
Thus, the society of yield and production creates anxious, depressed, frustrated and unsuccessful individuals. The global feeling of not going anywhere, of repeating one day the same as the other, is generalized, because the motivation has disappeared. Stress seems to surround each and every moment of our life, including those that should be rest and relaxation, and consumerism appears as the way to escape the existential emptiness that is imposed.
But the problem should not be sought in each particular case, but in the global society in which we live, the culture and the instilled ways of life that generate a characteristic way of thinking and living..
Apparent freedom is just an illusion, because the choices are already subtly imposed on us, there is no hesitation, nor the possibility of saying no.
Against continuous activity and multitasking, permanent agitation, lack of analysis and delving into things, the counterpart should be contemplation, calm, a return to things done with love and enjoy the road, not the result. Being able to attend to what you are doing at each moment with the five senses, focusing all your attention on a single stimulus and without your mind being scattered in the next thing that you must do.
Work better instead of harder, consider your own abilities without comparisons and value things from a distance. Look calmly, patiently, taking time to reflect, laughing again at the little things, because they are actually the biggest.
Incompatible with today's society?
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Byung-Chul Han, H (2012). The society of fatigue. Ed: Herder.
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