Chase Hughes

It was called Sartre's Hell, where three people are locked in a room, basically like this.

And it's a play.

But the room's not totally locked.

Every couple hours, the door opens and you can leave if you want to.

But nobody leaves.

And they're all desperate to be seen a certain way by someone else.

This one guy, he, I'm paraphrasing, but he wants to be seen as a good person.

So he asked this woman in there, please tell me I'm a good person, please.

And she says, yeah, you're a good person, but he knows she doesn't mean it.

So he stays.

The door opens, nobody leaves, and they stay because they're waiting for this confirmation from other people who they are.

And in this world today,

with how performative and artificial everybody has become.

I've got to show my best self.

I've got to hide shame.

I've got to conceal all this guilt and stuff that people carry around.

The reason that somebody can feel lonely in a room full of people, and I'm not just talking about on Facebook, I'm saying like in a real room full of people, is because no matter how many times your friends come over and pat you on the back and say, oh, Chris, you did a great job.

We love you.

You're a great guy.

Your spouse might say, oh, we love you and you're a great person.