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Writer's pictureKevin O'Byrne

Ditching Toxic Positivity for The Boys In The Better Land

If you're a rockstar, pornstar, superstar, doesn't matter what you are. Get yourself a good THERAPIST, get outta here


Track: 'You Said' - Fontaines D.C.


Belief: If I get more productive I'll be rewarded with more spare time!

Truth: You'll likely get rewarded with more tasks and eventually burnout!


The continual march of late capitalism compounded by the algorithm driven, hypernormal curated online life of CEO's, influencers and productivity hacks proliferated a culture (explicit and implicit) which has skewed our baseline of a live well lived.


What's beautiful is not necessarily productive, what's productive is often not meaningful. To unsubscribe from the cult of productivity is now in many wells subversive and rebellious which is so beautifully encapsulated by ''You Said'' from Fontaines D.C.s ' 'A Heroes Death' LP


You been on the brink, so slow down

Don't get time to think now

You try

Operating faster

Operating faster

Operating


We both Have a lot of things to say, don't

Don't get time enough to play, try

Operating faster, Operating faster, Operating faster


The function of play

Play is often derided and denigrated by those who are now 'serious' adults, however this misguided perspective only meets the superficial meaning of play. Anthropologists and psychologists such as Piaget and Vygotsky rightly attest to the function of play through the lifespan. Play is a way to model others, to grow, to reach connection (see zone of proximal development).


Less is more

We're all in an unspoken social contract that we must keep being productive, however, seldom do we dare ask the question, when will more be enough? Technology and advancements will march on into a singularity, however there are truths to consider


We are mortal

Our time is limited

That time when we have our s*%t together is not real and will never be


To try be exemplary and highly organised is not just a fallacy but a path to dangerously misspending our precious time on earth. Give yourself permission to be average in what's not that important, to save energy for what IS!


The 'productivity' of art

Art, regardless of the level of proficiency or the chosen medium is essentially the act of willful and conscious playfulness, with a suspension of concern of the output. While people often feel art and downtime is a superfluous, however many of our greatest industrial or scientific seeds of genius came from the liminal space of playful creativity. Playfulness is the fuel of the interlinked ecosystem of art and technology and this fruitful endeavor requires free time and a rested mind and body.


For more on this the short and very readable texts encapsulate this spirit in a very warm and compelling manner.

'The Courage To Create' (Rollo May)

'Creative Confidence' (David Kelly/Tom Kelly)


As the title track 'A Heroes Death' draws textually and visually from the death of Cu Chullain, living well and dying well is an art. Consider what chains of empty productivity you would hypothetically shake off and what 'good fight' will you let kill you?



So invite you to be #CuriousNotCritical and as Fontaines D.C deftly warn, don’t feed the meaningful and creative life to the false allure of toxic productivity don’t by tricked into operating faster


All bears Meaning to the freaks, who dare live Life not as a climbing stair,

they're Operating faster, Operating faster, Operating

We both, Have a lot of things to say, don't

Don't get time enough to play, try

Operating faster, Operating faster, Operating faster


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