Burdened by the image of an unalienated future, one finds oneself fleeing from existence itself

From Todd Mcgowan’s Embracing Alienation, loc 1998:

The lure of overcoming alienation entraps subjects in the pursuit of a false possibility that deforms their perspective on existence. Existence becomes the struggle to transcend the obstacles standing in the way of achieving happiness. Unhappiness becomes a state to flee rather than the normal state of existence. Burdened by the image of an unalienated future, one finds oneself fleeing from existence itself. In such a position, there is no possibility for finding satisfaction in the everyday variegations of one’s life.

Which I think is pretty much as simple as Oliver Burkeman makes out here in loc 483 of his new book. The images of an unalienated future inevitably obscures what it is we can do meaningfully in the present: today rather than tomorrow, this morning rather than this afternoon, now rather than in an hour:

Almost nobody wants to hear the real answer to the question of how to spend more of your finite time doing things that matter to you, which involves no system. The answer is: you just do them. You pick something you genuinely care about, and then, for at least a few minutes – a quarter of an hour, say – you do some of it. Today. It really is that simple. Unfortunately, for many of us, it also turns out to be one of the hardest things in the world.

And Maria came from Nashville with a suitcase in her hand
Always kinda sorta wished I looked like Elvis
And in my head there's all these classic cars and outlaw cowboy bands
I always kinda sorta wished I was somebody else