Everything At Once

For most of my life, I've felt like I'm caught in loops of problem.

For example: I need more money in order to afford spare time; I need spare time in order to have more energy; I need more energy in order to make more money.

In these morasses, it's hard to figure out where to start. In the moments where you're able to free up some small amount of Generalised Resources to try to improve your conditions, it's unclear where to deploy them. There's no one problem at the bottom of the stack; everything is jumbled together, and making small improvements to any one element doesn't feel like it will help at all.

A lot of the time, it feels like the only way out is a random stroke of fortune: some external, sudden bump that will suddenly fix (at least) one of the issues, and will therefore allow you to solve all the other issues, and therefore enter an upward spiral of self-reinforcing successes instead of chasing your tail in a circle.

I'm reminded of the many people who play the lottery, despite The Maths telling us that playing the lottery is utterly irrational. But maybe it isn't; if only a sudden upwards bump can help you, a small chance of escaping your current loop might be worth more than the certainty of continuing on your current path, with no way to build a ladder that will get you to a higher one.