In his 1923 novel Kangaroo, written in and about Australia, DH Lawrence attempted to summarise the Australian character. This is what he had to say:
Picture by Ken Hodge
The indifference — the fern-dark indifference of this remote golden Australia. Not to care — from the bottom of one’s soul, not to care. Overpowered in the twilight of fern-odour. Just to keep enough grip to run the machinery of the day: and beyond that, to let yourself drift, not to think or strain or make any effort to consciousness whatsoever.
I’m not sure if that description holds almost 90 years later, when Australia is much more heavily urbanised. But the underlying notion — that you can’t control everything and that it’s pointless to worry over minute details — is worth remembering when you feel overwhelmed.
[via The Conversation]
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