The Critic’s Curse: Why We’ve Forgotten How to Be “Impressed”

I used to be a professional cynic. In the newsroom, being “jaded” was a mark of experience. We’d seen every political scandal, every celebrity meltdown, and every “groundbreaking” invention. We prided ourselves on never being surprised.

But here is the problem with being a critic: When you spend all your time looking for what’s wrong, you lose the ability to see what’s right. We’ve become a culture of “nitpickers,” more interested in finding the one flaw in a masterpiece than in feeling the awe of the work itself.

1. The “Mid” Epidemic
The most common word I hear these days to describe everything from Oscar-winning films to five-star meals is “mid.” It’s a shorthand for “mediocre.” It’s a defense mechanism. By calling something “mid,” we place ourselves above it. We suggest that our standards are so impossibly high that the world simply cannot keep up.

But “mid” is a boring way to live. It’s the death of enthusiasm. Real intelligence isn’t just about spotting errors; it’s about having the capacity for wonder.

2. Hunting for the “Glimmers”
In journalism, we look for the “hook”—the one thing that makes a story stick. In your daily life, I suggest you look for “glimmers.” These are the micro-moments of excellence that we usually ignore because we’re too busy being unimpressed.

The way the light hits a brick wall at 4:00 PM.

The perfect weight of a well-made ceramic mug.

The wit in a stranger’s joke overheard on the subway.

When you train your brain to hunt for these, the “quality” of your life increases without you changing a single thing about your circumstances.

3. Vulnerability is a Superpower
Enthusiasm is risky. To be genuinely excited about something—to say, “Wow, that was incredible!”—is to be vulnerable. It reveals what you value. It’s much “safer” to stay cool, detached, and slightly bored.

But as an editor, the writers I loved most weren’t the ones who were “too cool” for their subjects. They were the ones who were obsessed. The ones who wrote with their heart on their sleeve. Passion is always more interesting than polished indifference.