Good evening readers, and welcome back to The Psych Era. Today we are going to dive into something profound. What is the meaning of life? I’m joking; we will take it a little lighter today. Our society is characterized by one thing- work. America is constantly described as the land of opportunity but in order to gain the fruits of your labor, one must work hard; that’s my philosophy on it anyway. As you continue to work, the more you gain and the more you must maintain. Maintenance means you must take care of your family, yourself and reach the goals you set for yourself. All of this is a good thing however, that leads to more stress. I’m going to break the fourth wall here and speak to y’all. If you’ve had a job or had to ever work with a group I assume you’ve had that one annoying coworker. You know, the one who is constantly talking to you or is a suck-up (follows things down to the bone). These people usually make your life UNBEARABLE and make it so hard to want to work at all. Let me give an example. So, when some guy(definitely not me) used to work at In N Out, he had a coworker, let’s call her Brittany. “Brit” was constantly on everyone’s case and made my life miserable(yes it was me). I was quick to judge her and fell for a phenomenon known as the fundamental attribution error.
As humans, we are quick to form assumptions because we think the world revolves around us. It’s fine, I’m not trying to make you seem selfish but it’s the simple truth of life! If someone cuts you off on the road you don’t think about what they may be going through you are quick to assume they are idiots(understandable). In reality, the person speeding has a baby on the way! It is obviously not your responsibility to know that however, this just goes to show how quick we are to form assumptions. Anyways, let’s get back on topic. After a long day of hearing Brit complain about how I did my job, I would go home in a spoiled mood and any little thing would bother me. I recall my little cousin coming to me after a long 9-hour shift and I told him to get out! I was extremely angry at myself for doing so and pondered why I did that. I had fallen victim to a defensive mechanism known as projection. Not everyone has such a broad knowledge of human nature as me however, this idea originated from the goat- Sigmund Freud. He was one of the fathers of psychology and believed in the idea of the unconscious. He continued to push the idea that our implicit thoughts are how we truly feel and he was absolutely correct! Life is hard. We struggle to see others’ viewpoints however, that does not mean we should give up. Continue to open your eyes so the human race can prosper! Thank you my loyal readers see you next time!
