The Article “Perfection Anxiety” written by A.A Gill illustrates through his findings, that while the means to have everything you desire is by no means bad , neither is it the best. Throughout the article he talks about the phenomenon of “perfection anxiety”, a condition causing it’s host’s feelings of significant ennui, a circumstance found within the abhorrently wealthy portion of the world’s citizens. This psychological disorder is found to occur when the incomprehensibly rich have realized essentially, that they have run out of things to spend their money on, continuing to spend only to appease the ever imposing expectations and judgments of the wealthy. In the world of the unfathomably rich a purchase can simply no longer be just that, …show more content…
This to most is the goal, what is strived for to achieve in the span of a lifetime, but for those who have and those who seek to have, the perspective greatly differs. To the lower class citizens of the world, what more could one want than to have achieved the pinnacle of wealth. A person no longer wants for anything, one simply has and can have more. The epitome of contentment and endless possibilities. This is not the case however for those in the position of having such means. Gill uses the quote “When Alexander saw the breadth of his domain he wept, for there were no worlds to conquer.” in comparison to the life of people suffering from perfection anxiety. To make having everything possible, one most no longer have anything left to obtain. Without a goal or an ambition to strive for there is a prominent lack of purpose to one’s life, painting a rather depthless view of the inside life of the incredibly …show more content…
Like any substantial boon, money has its many benefits, but on a psychological level the resulting disorder perfection anxiety takes a large toll. The lifestyle of the rich leads to limiting many people to being absurdly selective in many aspects of life as well as the added stress of maintaining the air of a sense of perfection that is believed by many as an unattainable quality. Those with great sums of money struggle to find purpose in their day to day lives, only adding to the initial ennui experienced through the disorder. A.A. Gill does not deny in the article the many splendours a life filled with endless riches may have, but instead also highlights that the idea of perfection is a perception, and can be easily perceived as enviable despite the many
While the slogan “The pursuit of perfection” might be an effective way to market luxury automobiles, it is not a way to live one’s life. In Anna Quindlen 's speech, “Being Perfect,” she discusses the price of perfection, not in dollars or cents, but in its impact on one 's life. Through powerful anecdotes, symbols, and analogies, she creates a strong connection with her audience and utilizes it to convince them that there is a very high price of pursuing perfection- the loss of oneself.
As Aristotle said in his “Nicomachean Ethics”, the wise people that you will meet in life will pick “honor, pleasure, reason, and every virtue” to try to achieve what they think is happiness. Also in this book he states that obtaining pure happiness comes from “sufficiently being equipped with external goods” and that this is what brings people happiness and satisfies them. Pretty much Aristotle is saying that people that would have excess goods, such as money, food, cars, clothes, houses, and other comforts to human beings, and if they had these items they would be ha...
Not all people can be rich. According to the article “The Treadmill of Consumption”, Robert says that “Life is a game. Money is how we keep score”. That is what some people think about real life, and that is wrong, because real life isn’t a game. It is a world where you need to work and earn your money to buy things you need. Not everyone can have a big house and many cars. Everyone is different and have different jobs and salaries. Somebody is born rich, and they easily get money from their parents, but others work hard to get the place where they are now and the money that they are earning. People never know who works hard and get it easy, but in any way they want to be like them. Moreover, people forget what they have, and they just want more. In the article “All That Glitters Is Not Gold”, it says that everyone should be equal. It is true that being equal would be an easy solution for people. Most of the people earn enough money to live good and simple lives, but that is not enough for them. They look at rich people and forget about themselves. Maybe, the money that they have is plenty for them, and they don’t need to be
The rich only select from the heap what is most precious and agreeable. They consume little more than the poor, and in spite of their natural selfishness and rapacity, though they mean only their own conveniency, though the sole end which they propose from ...
People are mostly never satisfied with their things. As famous novelist Paulo Coelho once said “People are never satisfied. If they have a little they want more.” Usually we undervalue what we have and forget about it to strive for more. In the short story "Rice Sandwich" by Sandra Cisneros, the main character wants to be special to such a great extent that she loses sight of her true self and everything she has so she can obtain what she desires.
A well-known expression is that money can’t buy happiness, yet people fantasize of winning the lottery, living in their dream house, and possessing enough tangible objects to feel satisfied with their lives. Most are under the preconceived notion that the absence of wealth and power translates to hardship and despair. This, however, is not the case, because a self-effacing lifestyle is not an indication of a lower quality of life, and often is better than one of great fortune. People yearn to have the financial independence and capabilities of those in higher ranking positions, and are willing to abandon their morals and own personal well-being if it means being successful. It seems that by reaching a level of wealth in which money is no longer
Amidst this time, people, whether rich or poor, had plethoras of reasons to be depressed. For example, some of the wealthy people, even though they were attractive both mentally and physically, were not happy with their lives, and in the worst case, they “went home and put a bullet through his head” (“Richard Cory” 882). Likewise, even some wealthy women who had multitudes of men tied around their fingers felt unhappy with their lives despite being “more beautiful than anybody else” (Fitzgerald 955). Such unhappiness directly resulted from the shallow lives that many of the affluent people maintained. Often some of these people cared more about their appearances than their personalities and placed their character second to their reputation; for example, Bernice in Bernice Bobs Her Hair learned her cousin’s pick-up lines to win over local teenage boys, and she bobbed her hair to earn validation from her peers. Correspondingly, some poor people also grew depressed during the Modern Era. For instance, some observed the wealthy and aspired to be them, but unfortunately they could not become wealthy, which led to cases of alcoholism: “Miniver loved the Medici, albeit he had never seen one… and kept on drinking” (“Miniver Cheevy” 884-885). This discontent from both
In the same article, Thorstein Veblen quotes, “proposed that jewels and mansions were little more than the human equivalent of the peacock’s tail and their main purpose was simply to outdo other peacock’s tail.” The quote means that expensive things are just for people’s status in society. In modern day, the article “In Pursuit of Unhappiness” describes that people are still searching for happiness. But if we have more things today for people’s status, then why are people still searching for happiness? In the article “In Pursuit of Unhappiness”, John Stuart Mill said, “Those only are happy, who have their minds fixed on some object other than their own happiness; on the happiness of others, on the improvement of mankind, even on some art or pursuit, followed not as a means, but as itself an ideal end. Aiming thus at something else, they will find happiness by the way.” The quote basically means that objects will not bring people happiness. Then what will bring people
The pleasure of a brand new gift can feel thrilling, but that excitement fades away after six to eight weeks. New possessions, money, and power that one has cannot bring them happiness the way experiences can. Greed is America’s disease and halts the road of relationships, comfort, and happiness. It is like a speed bump in the road, precluding the process of coming closer with friends and family and connecting with others. This thirst for money and power will never be as fulfilling and worthy as an experience. Being rich in non-monetary terms such as love, passion, and family will bring happiness. As Dickens shows in A Christmas Carol, although possessions seem like they would bring joy, a misconception that even civilians in this century
Not everything that is expensive is better. Rich people can get everything they want, but middle class people need to think if they need it, or they can find the same thing cheaper. Most people try to find cheaper things, but some buy expensive things, because they think that it will help them to feel that they are rich. First, people buy those expensive things, and after that they are in debt. Expensive things need a lot of money, but people don’t have them, so they use credit cards to buy for that. According to the article “All that glitters is not gold” says that auto exhibition 32% of attendees bought a car and 56% of attendees reported they were going to buy a car in the near future. It shows that that people don’t have money, but they saw that other people bought the car, and they want it also. My parents just last week bought a new car, because our old one broke. My dad said that everyone has big, and new cars, so we need to buy a costly car like other people have. I thought that it was a stupid idea to look at expensive car, but anyway he found a good car, nor costly, nor cheap car. It is middle cost, and it is a wonderful car. Running after expansive things people forget to look of prices. They forget that they will need to pay for that thing for many years after they buy
Since most people think that the “ideal” is impossible to reach, they are led to feel inadequate. The idea of perfection is a mere deception because, the obsession of trying to reach perfection is taken to extremes, perfection is based on individual opinion and there is no such thing as actual perfection.
In Michael R. Hagerty’s and Ruut Veenhoven’s article “Wealth and Happiness Revisited – Growing National Income Does Go with Greater Happiness” they talk about the effect wealth has on your emotions...
Is it accurate to say that a person is famous, and cheerful constantly the picture of standard success? Then again, then again, would that person say they are focused on, having misgivings about their life decisions, and unsure about the importance of their life? Regular displaying and media have adequately programmed our social order into tolerating a false, even conceivably hazardous meaning of success. Advertisers need us to accept that having loads of cash, living in an enormous house, and owning the sum of the most recent autos, styles, and innovation are the way to satisfaction, and consequently, success. This exaggerated, dishonestly publicized myth is scarcely ever the case in honest living. Honest progress accommodates helps regard,...
Instead they rely completely on money to be happy. People often do not appreciate what they have, and they feel like they deserve better, and they complain instead of making the best of what they have. It is not necessary to be rich to enjoy life. Often those who have everything tend to live miserably. People can become too attached to money to the point that they forget about enjoying life and caring for their family. The theme of materialism is shown throughout the story of “The Rocking Horse Winner” to explain how being too attached to money can ruin people’s lives.
... satisfied with life. Through the ‘focusing illusion’ we convince ourselves that satisfaction equals happiness. Unfortunately it doesn’t. Even though we appear to have everything, we are left feeling that something is missing, but are unable to identify what that thing is.