Well written. The core of your argument is - what are we making time for, exactly?
When you really dig down, you find it's to make time to be passive. For example, staring at a screen (TV, phone, notepad...). Or "checking" something (email, Facebook update, Text message...). Much of it in the name, generally, of entertainment.
Carrying out simple tasks takes you out of the passive mode into something that we humans have done for as long as we've been on the planet - doing things! And doing things, which many would reject and hire "help" for, can give great pleasure. Applying yourself to doing something - preparation, doing, measuring outcome - is a rare pleasure. Shaving falls perfectly into this, being a task but also a supreme indulgence.
But (slight tangent) there are others. For example insulating leaky parts of your own house YOURSELF. Replacing an InSinkErator disposer YOURSELF. installing replacement windows YOURSELF. Repairing your garage opener YOURSELF.
All of these I've done recently, and I'd never done many of them before. Not tooting my own horn because none of them are difficult - all they take is learning (thank you youtube), some modest skill, and time. Are they boring - ? No. If they were things you did all day every day, they may be. But they connect you with reality. They allow you to stand back and admire your work, even if you've made a mistake here and there, and get repeated satisfaction from that work. And save you a lot of money.
Unlike wet shaving
When you really dig down, you find it's to make time to be passive. For example, staring at a screen (TV, phone, notepad...). Or "checking" something (email, Facebook update, Text message...). Much of it in the name, generally, of entertainment.
Carrying out simple tasks takes you out of the passive mode into something that we humans have done for as long as we've been on the planet - doing things! And doing things, which many would reject and hire "help" for, can give great pleasure. Applying yourself to doing something - preparation, doing, measuring outcome - is a rare pleasure. Shaving falls perfectly into this, being a task but also a supreme indulgence.
But (slight tangent) there are others. For example insulating leaky parts of your own house YOURSELF. Replacing an InSinkErator disposer YOURSELF. installing replacement windows YOURSELF. Repairing your garage opener YOURSELF.
All of these I've done recently, and I'd never done many of them before. Not tooting my own horn because none of them are difficult - all they take is learning (thank you youtube), some modest skill, and time. Are they boring - ? No. If they were things you did all day every day, they may be. But they connect you with reality. They allow you to stand back and admire your work, even if you've made a mistake here and there, and get repeated satisfaction from that work. And save you a lot of money.
Unlike wet shaving