Our Society Has An Objectification Problem

How many more lessons should I take in a foreign language before I’ve achieved total mastery and never need to practice again to retain complete fluency?

How many more breaths of air do I need to take until I can live just fine without breathing any more?

How many more bad days or challenges do I have to face until they’re over?

When can I discontinue strength training/maintain/stop taking care of myself?

I can’t wait for retirement.
I can’t wait for...
I don’t like people who...
I like people who...

Objects. We’ve turned pursuits, skills, growth, and even people into objects. People aren’t objects or even nearly products. They are processes. As if they don’t and can’t change, we place them neatly into the organizational drawers in our minds. Then all pursuits, skills, and growth we talk about like we’ll just go out and buy them and they’ll sit on our mantles. DONE. Right?

We think we will ARRIVE. We think we can get to a pinnacle, and there will be nothing more to do. We will have filed each type of person away. And we’ll sit back and look at our trophy case of pursuits.
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Newsflash: you never arrive. There is no “type” of person. The mantle is empty forever. There is no trophy case. The joys and difficulties of life aren’t products. They’re moments within a journey flowing from one into another. They process. It is all in process.
It’s a journey. Stop objectifying all of life’s journey.