Quirkbag Collection #67 – 08.11.26
You might have read about this famous dialogue, published in a poem by Kurt Vonnegut, between himself and Joseph Heller, the famous authors of Slaughter House Five and Catch-22 respectively.
One day, both authors were at a party hosted by their billionaire friend in New York. Vonnegut asked his friend,
“Joe, how does it make you feel to know that our host only yesterday may have made more money than your novel Catch-22 has earned in its entire history?”
“I’ve got something he can never have,” responds Heller.
“What on earth could that be, Joe?” asks Vonnegut.
“The knowledge,” says Heller, “that I’ve got enough.”
The concept of enough is increasingly popular as the pace of modern lifestyle accelerates. Ironically, despite the abundance of material comforts, we feel uneasy with our lifestyle.
Sure, there’s plenty of social media doomscrolling and “fun” from instant gratification, but none is spared from digital burnout at some point. Plagued by the ennui of modern digital media, more of us find ourselves chasing the simplicity and slowness of a less digitally connected world.
We find ourselves gravitating towards a neglected truth: happiness and the concept of “enough” are inextricably linked. In a world driven by speed and masked with greed, who could blame us?
Living Without ‘Enough’
“Enough” is an illusive concept that does not lend itself to easy comprehension. As far as I know, no one sits around contemplating the meaning of “enough” (it is 2026 afterall, not 1566) unless they recently entered a mid-life crisis.
Most of us live in this hectic world where speed and achievement triumph over other metrics of success. The goal is to achieve more in less time. No one has time for “enough”, because we always do not have “enough”. We need more. We want more.
If you are familiar with my blog, then you know how university has been an explosion of opportunities for me. There is simply no time to try everything. I have to settle for “enough”.
But the competition for “more” also plays a role in burying the concept of “enough”. I doubt that finding a student feeling overwhelmed with commitment and responsibilities is difficult – someone is always doing something, part of something or barely hanging on. And that’s “normal”, until we forget to draw the line in the sand.
University inflicts a special kind of struggle on you – the kind that introduces you to the “real-world”. There is no theoretical limit to the opportunities and commitments you make in an effort to afford cross-faculty and inter-disciplinary exposure and growth for students. Yet, it almost spells disaster for ambitious over-achievers (we all choose our own paths). It most certainly hides the concept of “enough”.
With unrestricted options, it subtly hints that “you could be doing more…and maybe you should be?”. Tie this with the type-A personalities in us and the competitive culture, it takes a really driven, assured and confident person to draw that metaphorical line holding the immense pressure back.
Chasing More Instead of Enough
I was having a conversation with my dentist today about how her husband retired while her daughter lived and studied overseas without external sponsorship (yes, it seems reasonable that being a dentist helps). That’s a kind of affordance most families and students would like to have, even if they have no desire to study abroad. Who would be frustrated with having more money, more options?
You will. Because you, like most of us, are stuck in the relentless pursuit of more. We think we want more because more is enough, but really, we do not know what is enough – that keeps us stuck chasing more, endlessly.
But few of us are technical professionals. My dentist double hatted as a therapist. She said the definition of enough is a clearly envisioned lifestyle that you are satisfied with; you can retire if you can afford that simplicity. Indeed, the knowledge that you have enough is a rare piece of information, one we cannot attain despite all our riches.
It feels easy to agree to take on projects and commitments, even if we want to just for growth and exposure. But asking if it aligns with our values and lifestyle goals remains a valuable sanity check. Afterall, we can’t do everything – something has got to give.
Learning To Accept “Enough”
“Enough” is as difficult to embrace as it is to define. It is human to strive for more. Once we achieve our goals, we inevitably think we can do better, do more, if for nothing other than the fact that we can.
We get used to the “difficulty” when we achieve some equilibrium in our commitments and routines. Somewhere a little itch might grow; an urge to do more. It can be hard to resist, especially in university when opportunities open new doors and adventures. Perhaps it is particularly tempting because potentially life-changing connections and experiences are likely to happen. Each “no” can strongly feel like rejecting a new, better future version of yourself.
But again, a mortal reminder: we are not made to endure everything, just some. There has to be a line drawn. Either we choose to draw it, or it will be drawn through undesirable consequences.
“Enough” can feel like “little” eventually, when the simplicity and novelty become routine and maybe mundane. Slipping back into old habits has never been easier – do more again, pick up the pace of life again, try to beat the person beside you…again. Back to square one.
A line I remember from Alex Hormozi is that “you can be happy but not satisfied”. We can choose to be happy with what we have and still work for more. The question is “why?”.
Learning to accept “enough” entails reminding ourselves why this is our “enough”; why we chose this initially. Even better, understand and adapt your “enough” to suit your desires, lifestyle and values. I envision that aligning life to a vision of “enough” is immensely cathartic and imbues a ground-breaking sense of peace.
“Enough” Is Closer Than You Think
Strangely, I have wanted to retire since I was 12, inspired by how my grandma lived a slow and meaningful life (that life mostly involved raising me). I knew academia was not my thing, and that I just had to finish playing the “game”.
I learnt that another option to life existed – an alternative to the mainstream, hustle and bustle, rise and grind life. You might know this as suburban life.
But “enough” continued to stay buried as I moved through the system. Being barely an afterthought and a subtle, underlying sense of misalignment, it remained an unexplored concept until now.
Seeing how she lived a version of enough made me wonder about simplicity. In a world where “enough” is rare and elusive, simplicity feels like the antidote, or at least the first step.
Weirdly enough, this sentiment is echoed by several of my friends in my hostel. Even though they study some truly rigorous majors (like CS), we secretly crave a simple life that has nothing to do with our chosen majors. That might be an indicator for Gen Z students’ true aspirations – an escape to find ourselves and an ideal lifestyle, away from the rat-race we did not consent to. Astutely, Gen Z might just be ahead of the curve compared to previous generations when it comes to prioritising alignment.
All this to say, “enough” is something we all have within us. We just need a bit of time to sit candidly with ourselves and find out. Through no fault of ours, we neglect this. Society and media conditioned us to follow the herd and chase more meaninglessly.
But if all it takes for you to be satisfied and feel aligned is a warm cup of coffee and a book on a Sunday morning, enjoy it unapologetically.
University is “Enough”
To be clear, being satisfied is not being complacent or “lazy”. It is choosing contentment and peace today because we know what we have is sufficient but also precious. Sadly, we don’t teach this enough at university.
Learning to define “enough” is liberating because it can only be achieved if you genuinely shift your mindset to live on your terms rather than on others’.
Academic anxiety is extremely common among NUS students – and sometimes it is sad. We are friends trying to outshine the rest of the cohort through the difference in a decimal point all for the same job openings. It is hard to pick “enough” because the environment encourages more, and humans adapt to the environment in the long-run.
Nonetheless, university is “enough” so long as we choose meaningful rather than superficial commitments. So long as we go deep in the few rather than broad in the many.
Nothing will be enough until we decide that what we have is good enough – and I believe that’s when we truly focus and appreciate what we have; to start living for ourselves rather than the system.
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Hi! I’m Zac, the guy behind this serendipitous, quirky blog. I’m currently on a quest to find out more about myself – who I am and what life has to offer. This blog is my little space where I step out of my comfort zone to share my thoughts and life experiences. I hope you enjoy reading the weekly posts. Share them if you like.
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