This does not mean I am better or worse than anyone, just that my default state is reading. Friends eventually read books when recommended them and we talk about then.
Reading shouldnt be a target, it should be for enjoyment. I enjoy shitlit, but others may not.
I'm gonna start using "shitlit" from hereon out.
And also, there are people I respect who said they read 100+ books a year, and that you should, too. But while others in my circles were eager to jump on the train, for me, I thought it would be performative, and be about having read said 100+ books than digesting any of it. And what more, I recall that I best retain info via reading if I have skin in the game, rather than feeling like reading makes me appear more approvable to others.
All that is to say, it's good to hear from someone who reads a ton that a lot of your reading is kinda junk stuff (even if 150+ books a year is still a crazy metric – and as a tangent, people who ride bikes a ton say that a lot of their miles they rack up are junk miles, so I'm sure there's an equivalent of shitlit in any pursuit/ hobby/ interest/ endeavor).
For many, cynicsm at work is the authentic expression of their relationship to work: it's required to make the world go around and pay one's bills, but a lot of the work that needs doing isn't glamorous, efficient, stimulating, or enriching. It just needs doing, by someone who's willing to do it.
Being "a cynic" can indeed hold one back from other opportunities, but maybe those other opportunities aren't that appealing to the "cynic" either?
Is it okay for people to just be themselves, do what needs doing, and then go home to a life one prefers?
Toxic positivity is just as bad as toxic negativity.
Cynicism seems to fall under toxic negativity, in that it presumes negative intent before even finding out if it's true.
I think the article suggests being willing to find out, and take a stand towards choosing to influence your immediate circle to be allies, comrades, amongst fellow "soldiers in the trenches together," rather than just assuming everyone's in it for themselves and therefore there's no point in giving effort to be human towards one another.
I do like what the author says at the end, that even if our influence may seem tiny and insignificant, that it has impact if we notice.
I do think cynicism can be cancerous. I don't equate cynicism with a realistic assessment of an actually bad situation (which is where toxic positivity will want to bypass, brush it under the rug, stick their head in the sand, etc.).