As I get older, I realize I’m becoming much less curious than I was even five years ago. I used to get bored of books, music, and other content if I viewed them a second time, but something has changed - I look forward to reruns of my old favorites almost as much as I do new experiences.
My best explanation for this is that it’s a great big world and there’s a cost that comes with searching for new pleasures. After a certain point, you find far less pleasure in browsing than you do enjoying or revisiting an old favorite.
As I move into this phase of my life, I’m pivoting from appreciating the creative or productive process to appreciating consumption. I agree with Jeremiah Johnson when he says people should produce more, and that bragging about your consumption habits is boring. But I think there’s something great about consumption that people miss.
Namely, consuming high quality things, and having the knowledge, wisdom, or taste to recognize them as high quality unlocks a pleasure that’s hard to describe. Knowing the intricacies, context, art, and science of what makes something “good” or beautiful creates bonus dopamine beyond a piece in itself. Unlike exercise or craftsmanship, experiencing good content is a pleasure freely available to you to experience over and over again with minimal effort.
In this way, there’s a quasi-creative process associated with “digesting” high-quality media. For instance, I prefer novels with situational tension, and knowing what that means and looks like makes a book more enjoyable when I can identify it as it’s happening. It’s like a switch flips - I’m not just enamored with what’s going on in the novel, but also how the author pulled it off, and the reading is twice as fun.
Suffice to say, I’m having fun in my early thirties as a consumer more than a producer. Sure, I’m somewhat hesitant to try new things as frequently as I used to, but I’m not a mindless creature of habit or consumption zombie either. I’ll try new things, but only if they’re good. I’ll revisit old things too, but they must be good.
All of this to say: consumption is underrated. A good life is a creative or productive life, yes, but also one with good tastes. You don’t get good tastes without consuming quite a bit. Choose wisely what you consume, for it will influence your Good Life.