The last few months have been incredibly hectic. At the start of May, my talent wife graduated from the Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law at Arizona State University, with her parents visiting from the East Coast. It was a lovely time, but unfortunately, resulted in our both getting Covid. It took almost a month for us to fully recover. After that, we moved into a new apartment.
This sequence ended in a much needed vacation to the beach. It was good to take time off to reflect. Here are several lessons I took away from my respite in the sunshine.
Americans are incredibly rich. There are huge problems facing our nation—no debate there—but that fact is compatible with another fact that is often lost in our discussions over politics, policy, and culture: the average American is very rich compared not only to many people in other countries, but even the richest monarchies who lived several hundred years ago. The American middle class is markedly better off than King Louis XIV. Our world, including the poorest parts, has become substantially richer, especially over the last century, faster than at any other time in history1. Our apartment rental on the beach—two bed, two baths, and a full kitchen—would be the envy of even the richest and most powerful monarchs from centuries ago. It should be a point of gratitude that average people today can live substantially better than kings and queens of the past.
The ocean waves never cease. And trying to halt them would be foolish. For some reason there is something liberating about the fact that there are some things that we cannot change, whether the tides, the passing of time, or what others think of us. Perhaps this is because, as moral philosophers would put it: ought implies can. That is a fancy way of saying that someone cannot be held morally accountable for something outside of their control. And there is something freeing knowing that we cannot be held responsible for that which it outside of our control. Maybe the constancy of the ocean waves are an implicit reminder of that. As the Roman Emperor and Stoic philosopher, Marcus Aurelius, noted,
If you are pained by an external thing, it is not this thing that disturbs you but your own judgment about it, and it is in your power to wipe out this judgment.
Too much of anything is bad. The Ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle, who held virtue as the mean between two extremes, and modern day economists agree that everything, or nearly everything, is subject to diminishing marginal returns. This means that, everything else being equal, something becomes less (practically) valuable the more of it that you acquire. So, for example: you love Disneyland and save up a small fortune so that you can attend as many times as you like. On day one, you really enjoy yourself. Same for day two through four. One day five, you enjoy yourself less so. By the time day thirty rolls around, you’d pay not to go to Disneyland again. Even a good thing will get stale eventually.
Take a vacation from yourself and your problems. Ideally, a vacation should be a break from your usual routine and your usual problems, at least in my opinion. To the extent possible, it would be better to leave the work emails, checking social media, and other general wastes of time for your usual routine, not for vacation. I like to watch different shows and listen to different podcasts, read and do things I wouldn’t normally do, and so forth. I ignore the news, my email, and lots of other stuff on vacation. As Dr. Leo Marvin—from the underrated movie What About Bob—explains to the confused and neurotic Bob Wiley:
People do not play enough. Life is short, serious, and often stressful, if you let it. One of things that vacation should facilitate is having fun, playing, and general silliness. There is an excellent reason that playing evolved among mammals: not only does it allow mammals to learn how to make their way in their world, it also allows for bonding with others, relieving stress, and learning new stuff. Everyone should play and have fun more. To quote the Joker unironically: why so serious?
What insights did you glean from your last vacation?
Angus Deaton (2013). The Great Escape: Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality. Princeton University Press.
Great lessons, and a fantastic vacation!