Buy or enjoy, the choice is yours
In our society, pleasure is often associated with reward. You work hard, you treat yourself to a meal. You survive the week, you deserve a drink. Pleasure becomes a product, a right to be consumed... but never a state to be cultivated. Chloé, on the other hand, turns the table upside down. For her, there are two pleasures: immediate, commercial, ephemeral pleasure - and radical, sensory, profound, free pleasure. The one that reminds you that you're alive. "When you scratch the surface a bit," she says, "what really gives us pleasure are very simple things. Walking in a park. Seeing a sunset. Breathing deeply." But since these pleasures are not worth selling, we make them invisible.
Petit plaisir deviendra grand
Giving new meaning to pleasure also means breaking away from a logic of having, and returning to being. What Chloé is proposing is not a guilt-inducing eco manifesto, but a re-learning process. She talks about daily practices: asking yourself every day "Where's the pleasure in what I do? Identifying what really feels good - not what distracts or avoids us. "Often, people tell me they don't know what gives them pleasure anymore. But when you dig deeper, you find: moments of bonding, play, calm...". Thinking about pleasure is political. It means breaking out of the norm of productivism, and making a revolution through the body. And it starts small: a sip of water, a laugh, a hug. Free. Powerful.
Far from the glitter, close to others
But for Chloé Lécrivain, the real source of pleasure is collective. In a world in crisis, where narratives are often anxiety-provoking, she affirms one essential thing: even in the midst of chaos, there remains the pleasure of being together. To cook, to walk, to tinker, to create, to share. Of watching spring arrive. "Even if everything burns down, there will still be sunsets," she says. It's not naïve, it's vital. Pleasure is not a luxury, it's an anchor. A way of making society differently, by cultivating bonds rather than possessions.
Gentle zoom: 3 inspirations to listen to, read, feel
🎶 Music: Spring is coming with a strawberry in the mouth by Caroline Polachek - a strange, sunny pop ballad, perfect for welcoming spring. 📚 Book: Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown - an organic manifesto for thinking change from the living. 🎙️ Podcast: Thunes - a fine, no-holds-barred exploration of relationships to money, in all their dimensions.
