grocery shopping when ok: I have a list of some items I need and a general idea of what nutrients and food-categories would be useful and I will compare prices and fill up a basket judiciously.
Grocery shopping when depressed: this tea looks nice…I think I need an onion? The general concept of orange juice. I have been here an hour. Everyone thinks I’m stealing. I don’t deserve this tea. The size of the Pacific garbage patch. *leaves store w 3 boxes of mac n cheese, an orange, and some eyeliner* where am I?
I have never been able to understand people with consistent lives – people who, for example, grow up in a liberal Catholic household and stay that way; or who in junior high school are already laying down a record on which to run for president one day. Imagine having no discarded personalities, no vestigial selves, no visible ruptures with yourself, no gulf of self-forgetfulness, nothing that requires explanation, no alien version of yourself that requires humor and accommodation. What kind of life is that?
fivepercent 