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  • There's a great book by Aziz Ansari called Modern Romance. It's fantastic.

  • If you haven't read it, you really should, because in that, he breaks down how we

  • fell in love 20, 25, 50 years ago, versus how we fall in love now,

  • or find people now. And of course, he talks about the obvious,

  • in the fact that we're now doing online dating, people are using dating apps,

  • but the really interesting thing that I found there is that he talks about how

  • most people in the olden days used to find people that lived in a five-mile radius of

  • the block they grew up in.

  • People ended up marrying the person that they went to high school with.

  • People met people through their family friends and their parents' introductions,

  • and he also talks about how today, majority of people are more positive about

  • finding someone through online dating. Now, I don't judge either method.

  • I'm actually...think that there's a lot of progress that's been made,

  • too. People have a lot more choice, people are a lot more involved in their

  • decisions, people have a lot more options, as well, but at the same time,

  • the problem is, is that we also look for this ideal. I think what has massively

  • changed is that we're looking for someone to complete us, and that, for me,

  • with choice makes it harder.

  • The more choice you have, the more likely you feel there is someone out there who

  • will complete you, and you don't choose to complete yourself, yourself.

  • There's a great quote by this philosopher and writer named Cooley where he says,

  • "I am not what I think I am. I am not what you think I am. I am what I think you

  • think I am," and we're lost in this paradigm where our identity is built up

  • from the belief we have that other people have of our identity.

  • And that means we're constantly trying to complete something that is already

  • complete with another incomplete.

  • And so, the point I'm trying to make here is that where we get lost in today's world

  • is that we believe choice means anything's possible. It is, but at the same time,

  • we're losing the fact that actually, I need to become complete first,

  • I need to understand myself first, and then, when I do that, I'm then able to

  • find someone who enhances the good in me, who advances the greatness in me,

  • who is able to grow me, and grow together.

  • And so, I think today, we're looking for the instant fix, but we're not really

  • broken. So we're looking to fix something that's not broken, but we think we're

  • broken because society's made us think we're broken, because people have made us

  • feel we're broken, and we kind of need to take a step back and go,

  • "No. Who am I? What am I? What do I stand for? What do I believe in?" and then find

  • what complements that, and that just goes right to the root of it.

  • So, I'm not against online dating. I'm not against people finding people in bars,

  • or restaurants, or wherever you're deciding to find the person you end up

  • with. I think what I'm trying to say is that be more conscious and intentional

  • about what you're looking for and you won't be going around in circles.

  • Otherwise, we're just trying to fit a puzzle where it doesn't match.

There's a great book by Aziz Ansari called Modern Romance. It's fantastic.

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