Tag: aristotle

eudaimonia and daydreaming and premonitions

Not unlike the toaster, I control darkness.

Christopher Moore

Well well well if it isn’t me waking up at 5:30 a.m. again to start another day with my positive life affirmations and instead of getting a cold brew trying to breathe fire (like in yoga, not so much like a pyro – it is simply too early for flames). I inhaleexhaleinhaleexhaleinhaleexhale so fast trying to wake up, and it actually does work.

Well well well if it isn’t me sitting at my desk at 7:30 a.m. trying to stop falling into hypochondriac thoughts and thinking my knees are broken, my wrists have succumbed to carpal tunnel, and my eyes will never stop rejecting the contacts I force them to hold onto for dear sight. I have watery eyes and crackling wrists but I survived a car crash last week that totaled my car so if this is all that I have as a side effect of a head-on collision I think it’s okay.

Someone brought butterscotch toffee flavored coffee grinds to work but no one knew how much to add to the coffee maker to make those 2.2-liter dispensers. I did. I made it and listened while people were excited that the coffee tasted so much better today and how good it smells, and it made me happy that I was the secret benevolent coffee brewer.

WeLL well WELL if it isn’t me taking a walk in the park next to work at 10 a.m. because it is a very beautiful day, after all. My earbuds are on their last leg and there is a hole in my shirt in the armpit and nobody knows either of these things and nobody should know nor should they care about my hole-y armpit and how I keep trying to listen to but keep disconnecting from my podcast about the lives of bees and how I secretly plan their downfall because I am allergic.

Well. It’s 1 p.m. and I have decided to get myself an iced coffee and the Greek salad/tomato soup combo from Panera. The dressing on this salad has a very intense kickback not unlike breathing in a salt and vinegar chip, and choking to death on spiced air at my desk is not how I wanted this day to end not how I wanted my life to end!!!!!

The thing about working for nine hours a day is you get bored at sitting in the same place for so long, but you have to. The mind wanders and you stop thinking about you and the tasks you have and you think about your favorite things to think about.

There is a window I look out of and there are construction workers doing something to a house and it makes me a little sad that I will be here for five months without you. It is comforting knowing you are a 15 minute drive away and that after work I could see you any day. This city has become more than just where I work but where I have spent the most time with you and watching movies, cooking together, laughing, playing games, misunderstanding and understanding each other more than I could with anyone else. I love you and the thought that you are near me, even if I will not see you until Friday.

I have seen you two or three times a week for a year, spent many nights on your awful bed and wondered how even though you are virtually scentless I love the way you smell. Soon I will see you for four days a month over one week but I will try to see you more. Whatever flights I can get I will take. I will miss you so much for those five months we spend apart and then I will see you every day for as long as you’ll let me.

It is 5 p.m. and I am going home to work out and watch Grimm and probably make a salmon and rice bowl for dinner and I can’t wait to see you tomorrow.

warming my hands on bridges I’ve burnt, and why that’s okay according to Aristotle

I lost a couple friends this past year and I didn’t give a shit.

And I thought,
Am I sad enough about this?

I thought,
Did I really care about those friendships or did I waste my time on people who I shouldn’t have for too long?

I thought,
Am I being heartless?

I thought,
Will people think I’m a bad friend for being honest about not caring that much?

Then I remembered one of my favorite philosophy classes from college about relationships, and how different philosophers have defined them.

Aristotle said there are three types of friendships: one based on utility, one based on pleasure, and one on mutual appreciation of each other’s values.

A friendship based on utility is basically a relationship that lasts as long as you’re both getting something out of it. Like a transaction. Sort of like a coworker who you’re only work friends with for as long as you’re at that job. Once you leave, you don’t see them again and they don’t see you again but you mutually benefitted from being positive to each other while you were at work. Aristotle said this is popular with older people.

A friendship based on pleasure is more emotional and supposed to usually be the shortest relationship. You stay friends for as long as you both enjoy the same thing, and you break up as soon as one person doesn’t.

Aristotle said the pleasure friendship is more common between younger people because as we grow we tend to change our interests and values, so we grow out of pleasure friendships quicker than the other types.

The third type of friendship is based on virtues, and it has the strongest connections and lasts the longest. The best friendships should be based on appreciation of character — not on a transactional (utility or pleasure) value — and shape our lives for the better.

I think this really explains why I wasn’t sad about the friends that I lost this year.

One was a girl who I went out drinking with and talked about guys we were dating. We would meet up and both hop on dating apps and squeal about who we had matched with, who we’d met, and who we were dating for a while, but once I stopped caring about those things we ended up really not having anything else in common. We didn’t even like the same music or shows. Our friendship was a pleasure transaction, and as soon as I stopped using dating apps we stopped being friends.

I ended up not missing her at all as soon as we stopped being friends because she didn’t really add anything else to my life. Our values weren’t the same at all: we couldn’t relate about our jobs, our education level was different, and we had different political views. The death of our friendship was short-lived and unmourned. I actually felt better knowing I didn’t have to talk to her again, because I didn’t want to talk about the same things we used to.

Aristotle said that when you have a friendship based on appreciating each other’s values, the other two types of friendship naturally combine into it, too. Thing of your diehard BFFs that you’ll drive to the airport, invite over to watch 90 Day Fiancé, and help out during a hard time. They’re beneficial and pleasurable, and you also respect and care for them.

I’m extremely thankful for all of my top tier friends and I’m cool with warming my hands on the bridges I’ve burned with my limited time only buddies.