Friends asked me, if you live in China, will you feel uncomfortable?
I thought about it, and there were two major obstacles for me that were difficult for me to overcome.
One is that I can't use GOOGLE anymore; the other is the atmosphere of the entire interpersonal circle, which makes me feel that everyone has given up on themselves too early. It is like climbing a mountain together, climbing to the halfway point, the vast majority of people choose not to continue, some simply go down the mountain, a person who wants to continue to go up, it is inevitable to be lonely. Loneliness may not be nothing, but what is more difficult is the loss of spiritual soil, and it becomes extremely difficult to continue to grow.
My metaphor of "keep going up" or "keep growing" has nothing to do with the pursuit of fame and fortune, so those who seem to be conscientious in their pursuit of success are hardly the same kind. "Continue to go up" is a kind of spiritual growth that has gone up through setbacks and detours, and it is a heart that is getting wider and wider; "continuing to grow" is to forget the passage of time, to look forward to the arrival of all unknowns like a child, and to strive to achieve the simple wish to make yourself better.
Jayne is an average American I know who wanted to buy herself a new car in her 60s, and I think she should buy a Cadillac when she's so rich, which she says is a brand that only older people love. Now that she is almost 70 years old, she is still studying Chinese, traveling alone to various countries, often having whimsical ideas, and then trying to achieve and then giving up, which is very much like a class of literary and artistic men and women I know. Jayne's up-to-date and passion for life make you feel that there is no age gap with her, which is almost the norm for older Americans. "Ageless" life, this is one of the things I like about America.
At home, it is a different situation, and friends around them often lament that they are old and that they are not as good as before. I don't see their improvement in the business, nor do I see that they have a clearer and more insightful view of the world than before. In other words, I don't find in them anything that would be surprisingly progressive, but they think they are old, old enough to be out of place and everything can be abandoned except for fame and fortune.
I often ask my friends, why do you think you're getting old? The girl's answer is almost about appearance and stature; men feel that their physical strength is decreasing and their sexual function is weakened. Just for this trivial matter, let the whole psychology diffuse a kind of twilight, whether it is for oneself or the people around you, it is a disaster.
The decline of consciousness is accompanied by a real recession, and all you contribute to the world will be clichés.
I was also at a loss for the strong wellness atmosphere in The country. Pseudo-scientific health articles such as liver protection and stomach protection are full of WeChat circle of friends. Whenever I eat with friends, there is always a circle of friends who are well versed in this way to order the health benefits of various types of foods, eating is eating, and the functional eating mode is taken as a way of health, which makes me feel difficult to identify.
A person who talks to you about Chinese health care looks at least 30 years old. The feeling of being with the twilight old man is so strong that it has nothing to do with age or wrinkles.
Back in Shanghai, I would fall into an abstract, ubiquitous anxiety, and the life you were accustomed to suddenly became a confrontation with universal ideas. It's hard for me to find the presence of "ageless" people who are always trying to do their job perfectly, who are always going up and reading the vastness of life, who are curious about everything.
Maybe it's a taxi driver who is more clear than GPS, who knows the nameless trails that others don't know; maybe it's a courier who has the skill of using a sealing tape to seal the box so perfectly and neatly; maybe it's a housewife, even the rude, cheap stockings in the movie but very knowledgeable about cleaning agents, who wipes the house spotlessly, I admire with all my heart, because they haven't given up on themselves. To engrave every path in the heart, to study the efficacy of each detergent, where is the spare energy to pay attention to the passage of time?
For me, I would choose the "ageless" lifestyle until the end of my life, work, take responsibility, study, and wander.
Whoever it is, this moment, the youngest and most promising moment, we will only get older.