We're told to 'be yourself' and 'stay authentic' as if there's a fixed, true self to discover and express. But this quest for authenticity often traps us in limiting identities. The most authentic version of yourself might be the one who's willing to be inauthentic sometimes—to try on roles, fake confidence, act 'out of character,' and become someone new. The rigid pursuit of authenticity prevents the very growth and change that makes life meaningful.
We've been sold the idea that experiences matter more than possessions. Travel over trinkets. Memories over materialism. But experience-chasing has become its own form of consumption—and often a worse one. We collect experiences like trophies, optimize for Instagram moments, and skip the boring parts where actual growth happens. Experience culture doesn't free you from consumerism. It just makes you consume differently while feeling superior about it.
We've been told empathy is always good—the foundation of morality, leadership, and human connection. But empathy is a spotlight, not a floodlight. It makes us care intensely about the suffering we can see while ignoring equal or greater suffering outside our emotional range. It makes us favor the beautiful over the ugly, the relatable over the foreign, the immediate over the distant. Worse, it makes us feel virtuous for these biases. Sometimes the most moral thing you can do is turn empathy off and think clearly instead.