I think I mostly agree with this, and I’d also like to clarify that I don’t think this problem originates from EA or from my contact with EA. It is not that I feel that “EA” demands too much of me, rather that when I focus a lot on impact potential it becomes (even more) difficult to separate self-worth from performance.
Different versions of contingent self-worth (contingent self-esteem, performance-contingent self-esteem—there are a lot of similar concepts and I am not completely sure about which terms to use, but basically the concept that how much we like and value ourselves is connected strongly to our ability to perform) seem to be a problem for a lot of people outside of EA, that also relates to the risk for burn-out.
My thinking is that there are people with this issue in EA, possibly more than in the general population, and that even though it does not come from EA philosophy there is some relation between these types of self-worth issues and a focus on instrumental value. I’m not arguing that this is “right” or useful, I think it’d be a lot better if we could all have a strong and stable sense of non-contingent self-worth.
I think I mostly agree with this, and I’d also like to clarify that I don’t think this problem originates from EA or from my contact with EA. It is not that I feel that “EA” demands too much of me, rather that when I focus a lot on impact potential it becomes (even more) difficult to separate self-worth from performance.
Different versions of contingent self-worth (contingent self-esteem, performance-contingent self-esteem—there are a lot of similar concepts and I am not completely sure about which terms to use, but basically the concept that how much we like and value ourselves is connected strongly to our ability to perform) seem to be a problem for a lot of people outside of EA, that also relates to the risk for burn-out.
My thinking is that there are people with this issue in EA, possibly more than in the general population, and that even though it does not come from EA philosophy there is some relation between these types of self-worth issues and a focus on instrumental value. I’m not arguing that this is “right” or useful, I think it’d be a lot better if we could all have a strong and stable sense of non-contingent self-worth.