Strongly upvoted for fleshing out and articulating specific emotional phenomena that (a) I think drew me to EA and (b) have made it hard for me to actually understand + embody EA principles. I’ve perused a lot of the self-care tag and I don’t think anyone has articulated it as precisely as you have here.
The below quote, in particular, captures a learning that has been useful for me (if still leaning into using impact as a justification/rationale).
Ironically, having your impact define your self-worth can actually reduce your impact in multiple ways
Thinking about this quote now, I think I should have written down more explicitely that it is possible to care a lot about having a positive impact, but not make it the definition of your self-worth; and that it is good to have positive impact as your goal and normal to be sad about not reaching your goals as you’d like to, but this sadness does not have to come with the feeling of worthlessness. I am still learning how to actually separate these on an emotional level.
Strongly upvoted for fleshing out and articulating specific emotional phenomena that (a) I think drew me to EA and (b) have made it hard for me to actually understand + embody EA principles. I’ve perused a lot of the self-care tag and I don’t think anyone has articulated it as precisely as you have here.
The below quote, in particular, captures a learning that has been useful for me (if still leaning into using impact as a justification/rationale).
I’m really glad this post was useful to you :)
Thinking about this quote now, I think I should have written down more explicitely that it is possible to care a lot about having a positive impact, but not make it the definition of your self-worth; and that it is good to have positive impact as your goal and normal to be sad about not reaching your goals as you’d like to, but this sadness does not have to come with the feeling of worthlessness. I am still learning how to actually separate these on an emotional level.