Nehaveigur

Life, if you’re not careful, can be bland. Modern buildings, food, clothes, interior design, cars: They’re all very convenient, very safe and very bland. And it’s not just the things we buy, it’s the way we live. Statistically speaking, we have smaller families and fewer friends than we used to. We spend most of our work days looking at screens, and our evenings looking at screens watching Netflix, but even the people we see on those screens seem bland. The physical ideal that many American men and women aspire to in terms of looks and demeanor is one of pretty blandness. Some of us try to add spice by taking drugs or seeking our conspiracy theories online. People who are bored out of their minds will make choices that will make them seem crazy. Our lives are removed from drama and the risk of anything surprising happening is at an all-time low. We all live the lives of 1950s housewives now.

One thing that’s not bland right now is the news. “The most likely political outcome is the one that is most entertaining.” The recent election seems to confirm this. How could the voters make such a choice unless they were profoundly bored? They want change and excitement, and they’re going to get it. It will work for some time, but then the blandness will come back.

The point to blandness as a problem may seem contradictory. After all, it’s natural to want safety, absence of suffering and a predictable future. It’s why millions want to migrate to the United States and other Western countries. At some level, we want blandness. On another level, we are sick of it. We want excitement, but many of us don’t know how to get it. Netflix and drugs aren’t going to do it. You can’t buy real adventure either since it’s not marketable.

The path to overcoming blandness is not an easy one, and not one that can be made by simple, transactional choices such as voting or purchases. It means leaving the ruts of the path of least resistance before they become so deep that the dirt closes over us. Even adventures that are unpleasant while we experience them in retrospect are worth it, but the only way to have them is to do the unusual.