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Fight Club

I started this series quite a while ago, and since then I wrote about many great movies with the whole purpose of helping people learn something new in an entertaining fashion, so the process of learning doesn’t feel like work. From the beginning, I wanted to keep something special for the 10th edition, so now; it’s about time to write about one of my favorite movies and books, Fight Club.

Fight Club is the kind of movie worth watching before you know anything about it because the effect will be more impactful so I advise you to give the film a watch or the book a read because I’m going to drop a few spoilers in this post.

Disclaimer: I have to note that these are my opinions, that I took from the movie, but I advise you to watch it yourself, maybe you will feel differently or pick up on something I missed.

Money and Consumerism

The whole movie is a criticism against consumerism and what it does to people. We can notice this even from the beginning, where the character of Edward Norton that has no given name, The Narrator, keeps on buying useless stuff just to fill the gaps from his life. Most people are doing the same thing, they buy new stuff they don’t need just to make themselves feel better about having specific issues in their lives, but that is far from a healthy behavior.

The real problem is when people start replacing other people with objects, staring at a screen for hours even if humans surround them, and forgetting to have meaningful connections with their loved ones.

Many people work jobs that don’t satisfy them only because they are earning more money this way, money that will probably end up being wasted on stuff. Yes, you might get paid less if you’re doing something you genuinely like, if your hobbies are your job, at least in the beginning, but the final payout will be worth a lot more.

Even if you don’t earn much, you can live an exciting life if you’re doing what you love because true happiness comes from within and no phone, clothes or money will be able to replace that authentic feeling of joy. Instead of just following the money and trends like everybody else does, “the dream” that Hollywood sold them, try pursuing a lifestyle that authentically resonates with you.

Carefreeness

Tyler Durden defines the idea of carefreeness through his philosophy about hitting rock bottom because once you don’t have anything to lose, you are free. But, you don’t have to hit rock bottom to get into that state, you already have nothing to lose, you came into this world naked, and you’re still naked and understanding this will help you tremendously.

What’s the worst thing that can happen if you go and talk to that girl/guy you always liked or if you ask your boss for a raise or if you finally launch that business you always wanted to start? If you understand that you don’t have to lose anything, then you’re free to do everything you want.

But of course, you can’t acquire this state of mind just like that, overnight. Just as in Fight Club, to get into a position of being totally carefree, you will have to practice not caring about stuff whenever you can; it’s like a muscle. The best way to practice this is by doing something you’re scared of, every day, like in Fight Club. After you go out of your comfort zone on a consistent basis, you will realize that it’s not a big deal.

Also, the biggest reason why people are not carefree is that they always focus on the things outside their control, they are always stressed out about things they can’t control the outcome of. If you can’t control how a situation will end up, then, all you can do is to let go and focus your energy on things that are in your control. Only this little change, exercise will make you more carefree, instantaneously if you apply it.

Self-Development

If you pay attention to the way Edward Norton’s character was acting at the beginning of the movie and the way he was behaving at the end, you will undoubtedly see how much he improved as a person. He went through a lot of things, and his change may not be perceived as positive by everybody but the lessons you can get from his journey, are fundamental.

He didn’t read books or watch any seminars to get better. Those methods are amazing, and I recommend them to anyone, but he did something a lot more effective, something that most people lack and that is action. If you want to grow as a human being then, taking action is the greatest thing you can do because nothing shapes your personality more effectively than the situations you go through.

Learning knowledge is advisable, but it’s useless without applying all that information, and the sad thing is that most people are crippled down by their past experiences and are afraid to try new things, to act, to push their boundaries. If you’re one of them, consider this your call to action and go out there and start living the life you want.

Lessons Learned

Fight Club has a lot of violence but, at a psychological level, I think that is the state of spirit many people nowadays have. A lot of people are tired of their boring jobs, of the absurdity of how things sometimes are in our society, so they feel that frustration, they have that urge to destroy things, but happily the majority exteriorize it in non-harmful ways.

I think that if people would be doing fewer things they hate, spending money only on stuff that brings real value into their lives and stop worrying too much about everything that’s outside of their control zone, then, we would all have much better lives. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how many things you own or how much you’re worth but what matters is if you live the lifestyle you truly desire, and I think that’s one goal we should all be pursuing.

As a fun fact, even @Dan and @Ned are fans of Fight Club, just look at the first two rules of Fight Club and the first two of Steemit.

The first rule of Fight Club is: You do not talk about Fight Club.
The first rule of Steemit is: Do not lose your password.
The second rule of Fight Club is: You DO NOT talk about Fight Club!
The second rule of Steemit is: Do not lose your password.

Make sure to tell me in the comment section what movie you would like to see featured in this series because I will check most comments.