i agree and think it’s a natural part of growing up. it’s the same as shielding a child or being overprotective. they grow up with a distorted, utopian view of the world, ignorant to the extent of the capacity for evil by humans and the evil that is naturally present in the world.
i have observed this in many people i’ve known, who cannot understand the suffering of people who have had ‘traumatic’ experiences. from what i can tell they are also a lot less motivated than those who have had to endure pain and build themselves up again. when they inevitably experience a trauma, they are ill-equipped and can easily be derailed when this doesn’t fit their utopian schema of the world.
parents need to accept that suffering is inherently part of being alive and instead of trying to shield their children, equip them with the courage, motivation and resilience to overcome their suffering.
Hey Gaige, thanks for this thoughtful post. The following sentence particularly stood out to me:
"It is hypothetically possible that humans will find the mechanisms of the benefits and be able to extract the types of traumatic experiences that produce a refined and purely positive outcome."
I wonder if we already have something akin to this with competitive sports, and most definitely competitive contact sports like football. Competitive sports are for sure stress-inducing and in this way somewhat like controlled traumatic experiences. At the very least competitive sports can be traumatic for the losers of a game. For me, playing basketball and soccer beginning in 3rd grade was somewhat traumatic, as too was running track in high school (particularly hurdles), but I think these experiences made me more mentally tough than other kids and students who didn't play competitive sports.
i agree and think it’s a natural part of growing up. it’s the same as shielding a child or being overprotective. they grow up with a distorted, utopian view of the world, ignorant to the extent of the capacity for evil by humans and the evil that is naturally present in the world.
i have observed this in many people i’ve known, who cannot understand the suffering of people who have had ‘traumatic’ experiences. from what i can tell they are also a lot less motivated than those who have had to endure pain and build themselves up again. when they inevitably experience a trauma, they are ill-equipped and can easily be derailed when this doesn’t fit their utopian schema of the world.
parents need to accept that suffering is inherently part of being alive and instead of trying to shield their children, equip them with the courage, motivation and resilience to overcome their suffering.
"What does not kill you, only makes you stronger"
Hey Gaige, thanks for this thoughtful post. The following sentence particularly stood out to me:
"It is hypothetically possible that humans will find the mechanisms of the benefits and be able to extract the types of traumatic experiences that produce a refined and purely positive outcome."
I wonder if we already have something akin to this with competitive sports, and most definitely competitive contact sports like football. Competitive sports are for sure stress-inducing and in this way somewhat like controlled traumatic experiences. At the very least competitive sports can be traumatic for the losers of a game. For me, playing basketball and soccer beginning in 3rd grade was somewhat traumatic, as too was running track in high school (particularly hurdles), but I think these experiences made me more mentally tough than other kids and students who didn't play competitive sports.
Outstanding write up my man!!