I remember a psychiatrist once telling me that I gamble in order to escape the reality of life, and I told him... — Norm MacDonald

I remember a psychiatrist once telling me that I gamble in order to escape the reality of life, and I told him that’s why everyone does everything.

Author: Norm MacDonald

Insight: Most of us live with a low hum of dissatisfaction we rarely name out loud. Work doesn't feel quite right, so we scroll. A relationship feels stuck, so we stay late at the office. The quiet of Sunday morning feels unbearable, so we make plans. We're not running toward anything; we're running from the static of ordinary existence. What makes Norm's observation stick is that he refuses to pathologize this. The psychiatrist wanted to isolate gambling as a symptom—something broken and unique to fix. But Norm saw through it. We're all escaping. The CEO escaping through ambition, the parent through their kids' schedules, the artist through their work. The question isn't whether you're trying to escape reality. It's what you've chosen as your exit door, and whether it's costing you everything. This doesn't mean acceptance of self-destruction. It means recognizing that the impulse to get away from discomfort is universal and human, not a character flaw. The real work isn't eliminating the escape—it's choosing which escapes actually let you live, and which ones just make you forget you're alive.