The Seduction of Despair

In which John makes a somewhat intense video because he's in some discomfort. Topics discussed include how change happens, whether despair is useful, and whether despair is true.

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[abdullahenani]

“how existential could you get?”
John: yes.

[HurricaneCook]

Is it just me, or are these “John walking around with a long-corded mic” just absolutely amazing?

[austin]

I just got home after 10 days in the hospital with viral meningitis. While I was in the hospital, at the height of my despair, I listened to your viral meningitis review again. It made me feel less alone and was strangely comforting to hear someone else accurately describe my pain. Thank you for putting something that breaks language into words. I hope you don’t feel alone in your pain now.

[EayuProuxm]

The channel is 16 years old, and John and Hank still find ways to evolve their art.
This is one of my ways to reject the seduction of despair.

[faithannerush]

“It didn’t help with the pain, but it helped.”
As someone who is going through a rough time mentally, this is so real. I’m so grateful to my friends and the people around me who take the time to listen to my pain. They can’t fix it and the pain doesn’t leave when they listen. But it helps.

P.S. John, look at you learning new editing skills!! I’m so proud!

[AgentMaayan]

"It's cold, it's been cold forever, and it will never not be cold. Back to you in the studio" is like, weirdly poetic. But if I learned something from you recently, John, it's that just because it sounds good doesn't mean it's true. Warm, light-soaked days are coming.

[Flangel]

As Uncle Iroh taught us: 'If you look for the light you can often find it, but if you look for the dark that is all you will ever see.'

[ZatWonGuy]

"The idea that I'm merely a burden implies that a person needing care makes them less valuable, which again I just don't believe"
Actually brought tears to my eyes. I _really_ struggle with not wanting to trouble people with my problems be they physical, mental, or emotional. I do not ask for help unless I absolutely require it. Thanks for putting that particular string of words together, Mr. Green. I don't know if I ever would've.

[ryandonnell]

I’m convinced that John’s microphone cord is endless.

[Oakleaf]

Somehow John is always coming in saying exactly what I need to hear. John, I’m sorry you’re in pain too, thank you for being here ❤

[KooblayKhan]

"Destruction is often fast, loud, and dramatic, whereas reparative work tends to be slow and quiet and unspectacular." is such a valuable thing for me. Thank you for reminding me of it John!

A broken heart hurts, and then suddenly one day you realize that you hadn't thought of that person for a couple hours of that day. A physical injury hurts and then one day you realize you hadn't even thought about its pain as it had subsided or disappeared.

Destruction grabs my attention, Improvement I fail to realize until I've been experiencing it awhile!

[andicasian]

“If you look around seeking justification for despair, you will find it” — YES, it’s so true. As a therapist I find it hard to explain that sometimes because when we’re feeling despair it’s hard to see things differently. And we as a society don’t do great at not swing to the toxic positivity side of things due to our discomfort with despair. It’s a puzzling yet important work to step out of our confirmation bias about despair.

[thedoctor]

For those of us who can, let's take a moment to appreciate our back not being in pain right now.

[MahlenMorris]

Back in 2006 or so when the Carter Center was working on eliminating guinea worm, Jimmy Carter gave a talk I attended about the work and the suffering his organization was working to end. The photos were pretty heartbreaking; it was a nasty parasite. During q+a someone asked how he faced such suffering first hand and not despair and he replied, "oh, I despair all the time, but the work is too important to let despair stop us".

[dragonflies]

"That didn't really help with the pain, but it did help." I've been thinking about this a lot lately. All the joy and love does not make the suffering okay, but somehow it makes us okay.

[melissaissleeping]

I was crying alone in my apartment, asking myself when the pain of grief will end, feeling like it never will. Decided to youtube scroll to distract myself and instead found this video immediately in my watch later queue. I'm so glad that I did. Thanks John, I needed to hear all of this.

[AlexAzureOtaku]

Considering the kind of people both of these brothers turned out to be and how much hope they inspire in the world, I think the Green parents deserve extra congratulations and thanks.

[mariacargille]

"I am hiding behind the plant-- I don't know why but this actually hurts less than regular sitting."

The video was generally profound, but for some reason, this was my stand-out line. Maybe just because I love sitting on the floor, or because I, too, curl up in whatever position my back happens to be least angry with that day. Maybe just because it's a mood

[spacey-sam]

“The idea that I’m merely a burden implies that a person needing care makes them less valuable, which again I just don’t believe”
I’ve been struggling with this for a while, thanks for the wonderful video as always John

[shreeharimittal]

The Format has become a vehicle for John to be more creative with visual media, it's clear he is loving that, and I'm loving all of it.