Wandering around the bookstore with my wife, we talked about our reading habits back in our student days. It reminded me that my strongest desire to read was during junior high school. Back then, I almost memorized the entire Chinese and history textbooks, and I read all the few old books we had at home. I would even read a manual from beginning to end if I found one. However, that desire for reading wasn’t really satisfied at the time, and I didn’t realize how precious that state was.
After growing up, my desire to read isn’t as strong anymore, but the “sense of scarcity” from my youth has never really gone away. We live in an era where I can read almost anything I want with just a few clicks. So, this so-called “sense of scarcity” is actually an illusion, stemming from a survival instinct and reinforced by my experiences growing up.
This kind of illusion applies not only to reading, but also to love, money, and the approval of others – always feeling scarce, never satisfied. How to overcome these “feelings of scarcity” and illusions is perhaps one of the most important themes in life.