Great post! I definitely feel similar regarding giving—while giving cured my guilt about my privileged position in the world, I don’t feel as amazing as I thought I would when giving—it is indeed a lot like taxes. I feel like a better person in the background day-to-day, but the actual giving now feels pretty mundane.
I’m thinking I might save up my next donation for a few months and donate enough to save a full life in one go—because of a quirk in human brains I imagine that would be more satisfying than saving 20% of a life 5 times.
Such an interesting idea about saving up enough for a full life saved! Concreteness is important, maybe even kind of lame ideas like buying be a small piece of jewelry to remind us of a line saved, or hosting a “giving” celebration” can help some of us feel the good that is done a little more!
Great post! I definitely feel similar regarding giving—while giving cured my guilt about my privileged position in the world, I don’t feel as amazing as I thought I would when giving—it is indeed a lot like taxes. I feel like a better person in the background day-to-day, but the actual giving now feels pretty mundane.
I’m thinking I might save up my next donation for a few months and donate enough to save a full life in one go—because of a quirk in human brains I imagine that would be more satisfying than saving 20% of a life 5 times.
Such an interesting idea about saving up enough for a full life saved! Concreteness is important, maybe even kind of lame ideas like buying be a small piece of jewelry to remind us of a line saved, or hosting a “giving” celebration” can help some of us feel the good that is done a little more!