On Being Young, Scrappy, and (Sometimes) Satisfied
Remain forever hungry, or enjoy the tried-and-true? Sometimes, I learned, it’s okay to double down on the life you have.
I’m becoming so lazy and boringInertia is winning.
everythingJobs wasn’t wrong: There can be something thrilling in precarity, something energizing in dissatisfaction. Now I’m not interested in either staying hungry or staying satiated—I’m interested in surveying what I have and letting the desire well up of its own accord; in feeling hungry when I find something that is lacking, and satisfied when I have what I need.
Angela Chen (@chengela) is a science journalist and writer. Her reporting and essays have also been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Atlantic, Paris Review, Aeon Magazine, Pacific Standard, Smithsonian, Hazlitt, Electric Literature, and more. She is the author of Ace, on asexuality, from Beacon Press.
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