Today I want to introduce you to the region-beta paradox. It is described as follows:
The region-beta paradox is the phenomenon that people can sometimes recover more quickly from more distressing experiences than from less distressing ones.
The region-beta paradox: a person prefers to walk (at 3 miles per hour) if distances are less than a mile, and to cycle (15 miles per hour) for longer distances. Despite the remoteness of points in region beta, they will be reached faster than most points in the nearby region alpha.
Take away the fancy explanation and graph, and what you’re left with is essentially an explanation of the state of limbo. In life, a region-beta paradox represents a situation that’s detrimental, but not detrimental enough for someone to implement change. I’ll give you a few examples -
You hate your job, but it pays really well and provides good benefits. You end up working a job you despise for years.
You have serious problems with your girlfriend, but you love her and they’re not “that bad”. You end up marrying her and going through a hellacious marriage.
You feel sick, but not that sick, so you don’t seek treatment. It turns out you have a very serious illness, and the delay in treatment costs an exponential amount of time and money.
What each of these situations has in common is that if things were worse, you would be compelled to act sooner. If the job didn’t pay well, you would have quit a decade earlier and potentially found something you loved. If the relationship was abusive, you would have ended it years before, avoiding a harmful marriage and potentially finding someone more suitable. If the symptoms were worse, you would have sought treatment earlier and saved yourself exorbitant amounts of time and money. You see the theme?
The lesson here is that the really bad shit - the awful, horrible things that happen in our lives and create immediate change - aren’t the worst things that can happen. Much more subtle and sinister are the situations in which we do nothing and are completely stuck. In the words of Kurt Vonnegut,
“What could be worse than Hell ?" he said. "Purgatory."
For some reason, the story of Sisyphus comes to mind. Although it was not the original mythical intention of the tale, this principle actually applies perfectly. Sisyphus was forced to roll a boulder up a mountain for eternity. The boulder was enchanted by Hades, and Sisyphus could neither stop nor ever reach the top. So, where does the region-beta paradox come in? I can’t help but think that if the boulder was larger and capable of eventually crushing and killing him, he would have endured much less suffering (well, technically an infinitely less amount of suffering). Because it was just the right size and he was able to endure its weight, he was stuck in limbo forever.
Today, think about your life and if you are currently experiencing a region-beta paradox. The more I think about it, the more I think I might be - in a variety of ways. It is my hope that the simple awareness of this paradox might sow the seeds necessary for us to begin to break free of its chains (or giant boulders!).
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