To the conventional “How are you?”, most people would automatically answer the emphatic “GREAT” we all know, and rarely question.

Why display such a positive attitude towards the people who inquire about our wellbeing, even when our life might be falling apart?

In this Olio, we will explore the manifestations and possible reasons for the repulsion people feel for their suffering peers, and how that repulsion might be connected to the pressure for performance in a narcissistic “burnout society” we live in.

We'll try to redefine what a more "authentic joy" could be and the benefits of a certain type of laziness, by discussing views we can find, for instance, in the essay "The Agony of Eros" by Byung-Chul Han, but also in several classical works of continental philosophy by Bertrand Russell, Pascal or Epicurus. Some quotes to ponder before our conversation:

Russell - “One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important.”