# To Care or Not to Care By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2024-10-19 Hamlet gets much credit for asking, “To be or not to be?”. That is a deeply existential question. Perhaps it’s too deep for most people most of the time. A slightly more limited question is, “To care or not to care?”. The answer to this question will determine a great deal in the quality of one’s life. To care is an investment. When one cares, one has skin in the game. The outcome matters. One’s emotions will be influenced by what happens. When one does not care, one can observe unfolding reality with dispassion. When maintaining the degree of objectivity that is humanly possible, one can read the room and maneuver for advantage. Heartbreak is only possible when one cares, and so too is fulfillment. Most of the intense emotions, positive and negative, come with caring. Almost no feelings, except for maybe boredom, come from not caring. Regarding work, the degree to which it is better to care or not care is unclear. It is better to come across as if one cares than as not caring. However, one can quickly come across as caring even if one doesn’t. Usually, all one needs to do is avoid saying, “like I give a shit,” to whatever the manager says. Avoid saying this, and it will seem like you care. But beyond the appearance, is it better to care or not? For the day-to-day quality of one’s emotional well-being, it might be better not to care. One avoids all the chaos associated with exogenous events affecting oneself. It might be better to care for the long-term quality of one’s life. Ultimately, who wants the only thing one can claim to have done is avoid emotional responses to the stupidity surrounding us? Spoiler alert: Hamlet didn’t kill himself; he answered that it was better to be than not to be. Likewise, it is better to care. #### Related Items [[Work]] [[Purpose]] [[Caring]] [[Existential]] [[Questions]]