Copium, hopium or resilience

## What IdeaVerse is about

We meet usually once a month to discuss some of the current challenges as well and perhaps come up with new ideas on how to overcome them. The format of the meeting includes an initial sharing of viewpoints by each participant without judgment, and in the second half we will discuss our ideas and try to find things to learn from each other.

In this next meeting we'll be discussing...
copium, hopium and resilience as ways to deal with an increasingly stressful and complex modern life.

Life has gotten harder for a lot of people. Rising hosing costs, climate change, inflation, job insecurity and a constant stream of bad news add up to a level of stress that our parents, living in more abundant, peaceful times, failed to prepare us for.

Humans deal with adversity by either coping or acting.
We cope with reality by consuming two main kinds of drugs:

1. Copium - When we can't change our circumstances, we numb them by consuming substances or entertainment: scrolling video reels, delivery apps, gambling, fast-food, alcohol, illegal or mind numbing legal drug addictions, and shopping buy a few hours of relief and cost us the very resources we'd need to get solve the problems that stress us and enjoy life. The meager savings go, the stress stays, and the cycle repeats.
2. Hopium - When people feel abandoned by the system, they become receptive to anyone who promises to fix everything. Strongmen and demagogues offer someone to blame and a glorious future in return for unchecked power, and the supporters hand over their say in how things are run for a welfare that the demagogues have no real intention of delivering. With each election cycle, they gain more and more power, and the little freedom hopium addicts still have is in danger of going away completely.

Both paths have something in common: they hand our agency to something else, whether an addiction or a leader. Neither one improves our actual situation. Both are a reflection of something called an external locus of control.

At the opposite end of problem solving lies the internal locus of control strategy which has been scientifically tied to increased happiness, health and success. It basically means being disciplined about earning and managing money, investing real time in friendships and community, and slowly building a Resilient lifestyle (skills, savings, health, people who'll show up for us) that makes you stronger the next time life pushes back. It is a slow process, takes hard work and cannot be bought.

The question we'll be trying to answer this time is:
1. Is hard work realy rewarded in today's society or we're playing a losing game against rich inheritors and asset holders (stock, bonds, realty)?
2. Why do so many people give in to ways of running away from responsibility over their own happiness when faced with stress while others push towards it?
3. Is resilience only accessible to people who happen to have a rare genetic or cultural predilection to it, leaving the rest with copium and hopium as their only choice?

Some resources to get us started:

1. Hopium & Copium: Definitions, Meaning, Significance (30 minute article) - it's long, so I suggest only skiming the core concepts:
   2. What is Hopium? Definition and Core Meaning -hopium
   4. Hopium vs Copium: Understanding the Difference - copium
   8. Practical Strategies for Breaking Free from Hopium - resilience
2. How To Overcome Adversity (11 minute video) - animated summary of various philosophical quotes and 4 steps to overcoming difficult life circumstances.
3. Why Some People Follow Authoritarian Leaders (5 minute article) - why authoritarian promises resonate most with so many people today.

The meeting is free to attend, but please buy a drink or two at our patron's place, to make them happy. This location does not have food.