As I rest my weary bones after a lot of lifting and shovelling work today, it got me thinking about how our lifestyles impact on our capabilities and our general health. So many of our health problems today are lifestyle related, with cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, obesity, certain cancers (like lung, colorectal, and prostate), chronic respiratory diseases, Alzheimer's, arthritis, osteoporosis, and chronic liver diseases among the most common.
But the list goes on.
And there is the low-level stuff.
The sore necks and bad postures from sitting at desks. Foot issues from wearing the wrong shoes and not moving enough. The bad skin from poor diets and not drinking enough water, as well as spending too much time in the sun.
Again, the list goes on.
And while it is unlikely that any of us are going to do all the things that would keep us healthy, and avoid all the things that would reduce our health, we probably all should be doing something to increase the good and decrease the bad. It could be choosing a salad half the time we normally wouldn't, or take the stairs instead of the lift, or drink a glass of water, instead of a can of soda.
But what I find is the biggest hurdle, is our awareness. At least for me, it is like I am half way through the donut before it strikes me that I shouldn't have bought it in the first place.
I still finish it. It would be a waste otherwise.
But I think that outside of diet and exercise, there are many other lifestyle behaviours that are hurting our health. Especially our mental health. Globally, mental health has dropped off a cliff in the last few decades and it is getting increasingly worse. There are many factors for this, like social media and complicated operating environments, but I think a big one is a self-imposed issue.
Entitlement.
I think that one of the problems society faces is the massive amount of entitlement that an individual assigns to themself. It is an entitlement that makes each person feel as if they are unique, their problems are unique, and therefore - they should get special treatment. Not special treatment for being their best, but instead for being at their worst.
The fact is though, we all have problems, and while there might be many variations, chances are that if you have a problem, millions of other people have similar problems. Having issues doesn't make you special. What might make you special is how you deal with those problems, because the majority of people seem to be so entitled, they expect their problems should be handled by others.
When we look at health and wellbeing, a lot of focus has been put on "mental health" by having people focus on evaluating their state of mind and their emotions. They have been told to focus on how they feel, and if they don't feel perfect, they are failing. But this constant monitoring of how we feel means that we aren't actually doing what we should be doing in order to have a higher quality of life.
Something else.
Reflection is great, I am obviously a huge fan - but in order to be helpful, there has to be something to reflect back, some action. Too many people are just reflecting on whatever is in their mind and however they feel, without actually having any actions that have led them there. It is a closed loop of navel-gazing, with no external experience to disrupt the patterns of behaviour.
See the problem?
It is like stocking a fridge and pantry with only junk food, and never getting off the couch other than to get supplies from the kitchen. If we aren't getting out of our head and heart (the heart really only pumps blood, it doesn't create emotion) and going out to explore the world and test ourselves in it, what we are reflecting upon is our inexperienced opinion which assumes that what we think is an accurate representation of the situation.
Is that the reality?
Is a virgin a good judge of quality sex? No. But because we have been successful in creating convenient ways to do all things for us, we have got to a point where we can think about our thoughts and feelings, without needing to do anything else. We are trapped in a prison of our own opinion, and our practical habits are following suit. Our opinion is that things should be easy, and we should feel good before we can do anything, so we find easy ways to do things, and do nothing if we don't feel good enough.
And we suffer, and feel worse.
We also insist that pain and suffering is bad, when in actual fact, it is part of our natural constitution and gives us warnings to inform our next steps. Even suffering, which is more a mental thing tells us, we should look into what is causing this, and change it if we can, or accept it if we can't.
But suffering never ends.
The causes just change.
The more successful we get as a species, the more we change our surroundings, the more new forms of suffering we are going to create. Every solved problem takes us to the next problem to solve. So the answer to suffering isn't to avoid it, it is to keep solving problems.
Keep succeeding.
And that doesn't mean everyone has to go and cure cancer to be a success. It means that we need to actively spend time and attention solving the problems we have in our life. The every day, ordinary problems we face. Problems like how to warn myself before buying the donut that I don't actually want.
However, the problem with taking an active approach to solving our own problems, is that we can't position ourselves as victims, because we have agency. Yes, things can happen to us that we can't control, but that happens to everyone. If our problems are from lifestyle choices, even if they are from conditioned habits that we didn't ask for, we can still do something about our behaviours.
If we don't, we still aren't victims - we are agents of our own demise.
Taraz
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