By chance, have you been unhappy lately? Stressed? Bored? If you’re living in the US, this might be pretty surprising, considering how well off we are as a country. When was the last time you went hungry? No, not “I missed breakfast because my alarm clock didn’t go off,” but “I hope I don’t die of starvation; I’m going to eat these bugs outside because they are all I can find”. When was the last time you stared death in the face? Again, this isn’t “Gosh, he is a bad driver, I hope we don’t crash”, but rather “the insurgents are raiding our neighborhood again” or “that pride of lions came and ate my brother”.
We are so well off, and we can barely appreciate it.
Frankly, I’m not surprised. Being inside all day, sitting down all day, driving from place to place, eating either completely processed food, or chemically-laden produce that messes with our hormones, not being able to sleep from the wonders of our infinite electronic screens that mess up our circadian rhythms, and watching our dreams and curiosity constantly crushed doesn’t exactly do the body or mind wonders.
We sure do know how to enjoy nature. Source: flickr.com
I’m about to go on a rant that is going to make you really mad. Know that you aren’t doing anything wrong. I know that you do everything for your own good. We all are. But you may not be seeing the entire picture. You may have a skewed vision of yourself, your goals, and your productivity. You may have a skewed view of the entire world. We all do. Especially me. All we can do is constantly seek the truth. We may never reach it, but every step closer makes life better.
We can’t keep living like this. I’m talking to you, that comes home after work and watches television for 2 hours, all the while complaining about being overweight. You, that walks on a treadmill, inside, on a beautiful day, wasting energy, your own time, and boring your brain to death. You, that wants to live a healthier life, but can’t muster the willpower to stop drinking wonderfully sweetened beverages and have plain, old boring water. You, that depends on others to find fun things to rather than doing them on your own. You, that is fooled into thinking that everything you’ll ever need to know is on the Internet, and that everything is already discovered. You, that forgets that there are still people starving in the world. You, that drives two miles to work, then walks on the treadmill for an hour after work instead of just walking there in the first place. You, that has given up on seeing what the world has to offer for the comfortable womb of the living room and internet. You, that can’t break dogma and accept different beliefs and new mindsets.
Even if you think you’re immune, you’re not. None of us are. This “disease of affluence” is everywhere, in ways we can’t even imagine. It is up to us to find it, and figure out what in the world to do about it.
And for heavens’ sake, stop having such low standards for yourself. Our ancestors would be ashamed of us. Embarrassed. If there was a huge party, with people from every generation that ever lived, the people from the past would probably not want to hang out with us. Honest Abe would probably be quite disappointed. Teddy Roosevelt would shame us for giving up on “The Strenuous Life.” In all likeliness, they’d probably smack the iphones out of our incessant fingers, walk out, and actually enjoy each other’s company.
Let me elaborate a bit. If you’re anything like most people, you’re probably tired most days, can’t sleep much, and aren’t in great shape. Maybe those are related. And maybe, just maybe, this time you don’t have could be used for things that are actually fulfilling, and god forbid, productive. If you can honestly tell yourself that idolizing TV characters while you waste away, night after night, is fulfilling, please reconsider what you are doing with your life.
If you do decide to see the light, and start building up your body’s strength and energy reserves so you can live longer and better, the good news is that your body won’t let you down. You’ll start to hurt, and you’ll be darn tired, but your body will keep you alive, despite most stresses you can throw at it. It will adapt. It will overcome. But you have to give it something to adapt to. Sitting for 17 hours per day and sleeping for the other 7 doesn’t exactly build much in the way of anything, except for back pain.
Get off your butt. Go see the world. Start working out. Start enjoying working out. You’ll be surprised how much energy you have, and how easy sleeping is. Stop wasting your time on Facebook. Stop living vicariously through your favorite TV, movie, and book characters. We have an entire planet out there, and we constantly shut ourselves in from it.
I’m not just being annoying about the working out. I attacked a couple of sacred workout ideas this summer —don’t do the same muscle groups multiple days in a row, don’t workout twice per day, don’t workout six days per week. Don’t forget to take a rest week every 6-8 weeks. For all I knew, I was going to literally die with a fried central nervous system and broken joints. Despite that, I have more energy than I’ve ever had in my life. My lifts have gone up. I feel great. Honestly, if overtraining was such a worry, our ancestors would have had to only go out and BUILD HOUSES WITH THEIR BARE HANDS, and FIGHT WILD ANIMALS, and HUNT FOR THEIR OWN FOOD a few times per week, lest they get overtrained. That is garbage and you know it.
Again, form follows function.
Side rant, because I don’t have the patience to write a full article about it: stop thinking you’re going to look like you workout without actually being able to. You are going to look like what you are capable of doing. If you sit on the couch 95% of the day, you’ll look like it. If you can do one arm pull-ups, you’re going to look like it. If you can run 100 miles without stopping, you’ll look like it. Start training for function, and form will follow.
Maybe, just maybe the rules are rigged against us. Do you really think Netflix wants you to go see the world? Do the dietary supplement companies actually want you to reach your goals? Do the food companies want you to eat less, and healthier? Do the television companies want you to go explore the world? Do the phone providers want you to use your phone less? Does the medical industry want you to be healthy? Do the consumer products companies want you to be happy with the items that fill your needs, rather than give you more variety than you’d ever know what to do with?
NO. If you did all of that, what the heck would they sell you? What would happen when every American got rid of his television and found entertainment in the company of others? God forbid, we got rid of Netflix as well. What about if we walked to work? What about the loss of car sales, the lowered energy sales? What if the obesity rate went down to zero percent? Where would those extra calories go? What about the lack of medications for the new, healthier population? I’m not going to pull out specific number references, but it doesn’t take a genius to know that these are HUGE, billion dollar industries. If we started consuming dramatically less of them, our GDP would plummet. We would be happier than ever, and yet be freaking out because our economy is crashing. Or would we?
The man is keeping us down. But no, this isn’t the government. It isn’t somebody else. The man is our own weakness and laziness. So start thinking about your life and stop wasting it before you die.
Winningnotwhining 