{"id":306,"date":"2019-05-14T14:39:46","date_gmt":"2019-05-14T14:39:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nomadicmatt.com\/?p=171364"},"modified":"2019-05-14T14:39:46","modified_gmt":"2019-05-14T14:39:46","slug":"everything-is-fcked-reflections-on-hope-and-travel-with-mark-manson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourfunjourney.com\/index.php\/2019\/05\/14\/everything-is-fcked-reflections-on-hope-and-travel-with-mark-manson\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything is F*cked: Reflections on Hope and Travel with Mark Manson"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A
\nPosted<\/strong>: 05\/14\/2019 | May 14th, 2019<\/p>\n

You meet a lot of interesting and smart people when you run an online business and travel the world. One of the people I’ve met is best-selling author Mark Manson. We had orbited each other for many years and finally met when he moved to New York City<\/a>. <\/p>\n

We\u2019ve been \u201creal life\u201d friends ever since. <\/p>\n

His first book, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck<\/a><\/em>, became a runaway hit, selling over 8 million copies. (He wrote a post about how travel made him the person is today<\/a>, which laid the foundation for that book.)<\/p>\n

Now, Mark has a new book out today called, Everything is F*cked: A Book About Hope<\/a><\/em>. I received a copy to read in advance and it\u2019s a really incredible book about philosophy and how to live a life of meaning and challenge in our modern times. It gave me some good food for thought about issues or perspectives I hadn\u2019t thought about before. <\/p>\n

Today, Mark and I chat about his new book! <\/p>\n

Nomadic Matt: You have a new book out, Everything is F*cked: A Book About Hope<\/em>. Let\u2019s talk about it. What would you say the core of this book is about?<\/strong>
\nMark Manson:<\/strong> At its heart, this book is a look at how to develop and maintain a sense of hope for ourselves and the world \u2014 and how these hopes affect us. We generally see hope as an unequivocally \u201cgood\u201d thing, but I call that idea into question in this book. <\/p>\n

Would it be a considered follow up to The Subtle Art<\/em>?<\/strong>
\nI\u2019ve been calling it an \u201cexpansion\u201d of the ideas from Subtle Art<\/em>. I think it\u2019s a deeper analysis and more complex application of the same concepts\u2014values, pain\/suffering, and our definitions of success. It\u2019s kind of like the calculus to Subtle Art\u2019s<\/em> algebra or the chess to its checkers. <\/p>\n

What inspired you to write this book?<\/strong>
\nWell, just looking around at what is going on in the world. We\u2019re living in a weird time in that materially, the world, as a whole, is the best it\u2019s ever been (less poverty, violence, more wealth, people living longer, etc.), yet mentally and emotionally, people are struggling more than ever with finding hope and meaning in their lives. <\/p>\n

And what\u2019s interesting is that it\u2019s the people from the wealthiest and most stable parts of the world who are experiencing these philosophical struggles the most. <\/p>\n

On top of that, I\u2019ve noticed in my own life, that as an older millennial, all the promises of my youth have turned out pretty ugly. From the internet to my country and to my assumptions about relationships, friendships, community, it feels like there\u2019s a lot to be justifiably upset about \u2014 yet things are objectively better. <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve had my own struggles with finding meaning and hope in my own life, despite the fact that, on paper, everything is awesome. So, in that way, this book is kind of my own way to sort through these issues. <\/p>\n

Since this is a travel website, let\u2019s talk about your book and travel. How can travel make us less f*cked? Or can it? <\/strong>
\nI think anything that increases human empathy is hugely important and beneficial at the moment. I also think anything that can cause you to confront your own value systems and question them is incredibly useful. <\/p>\n

Travel does both of those things very well. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a bit ironic that by connecting the world more than ever before, we\u2019ve also come to objectify cultures more than ever before. Everything is about \u201cthe \u2018Gram\u201d so to speak. I think a highly conscious and culturally engaged form of travel is still paramount. <\/p>\n

Like anything, travel can become an escape from one\u2019s problems rather than a pursuit of some higher understanding. So, it\u2019s important to always make sure you\u2019re on the right side of that equation. <\/p>\n

One aspect of the book I found really interesting was the formula for life and how it relates to being a better person (especially in relation to travel). Can you describe this idea a little bit? <\/strong>
\nThe Formula of Humanity comes from the philosopher Emmanuel Kant and essentially says that the driving force behind all of our decisions and actions should always be people. That more than emotions, more than culture, more than group loyalties, our first principle should always be to treat people (both ourselves and others) with dignity and respect. <\/p>\n

And I think travel forces one to practice this. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to sit on one side of the world and criticize people on the other. But when you go there and discover that 99% of the people are good, decent people and actually value the same things you do, it makes empathy more possible. <\/p>\n

What can people learn from your book that they can apply to their lives?<\/strong>
\nI think there are five points that people can really apply to their own life:<\/p>\n