I'm referring to the lifestyle which a lot of people in the ecomonically developed western nations are living. I've just read yet another news article which states that stress levels are ever-increasing. There are several others which claim that we're no happier than we were around 50 years ago. Another survey suggests that wealth is on the up, but so are cases of people with psychological problems. Another report I read suggested that there are tribespeople in east Africa who are just as happy as many of America's richest people!! You can go almost anywhere to any large town or city in the world (but especially London!) look carefully and you can see that a lot of people aren't happy, whcih is very much contrary to what city life is supposed to be. This issue has been on my mind an awful lot recently and the one positive effect of that is that it does make me feel more inclined to the new age values I'm already associated with, which for me represent a kind of counter-balance to this 'rat race'. Despite working with (I prefer to say 'with', rather than far because 'for' just sounds really exploitive in this context) McDonalds and now Asda I've tried for a while to at least some extent distance myself from this 'life in the fast lane'. I remember saying to someone a while ago 'if you're in the fast lane for long you'll either crash or your car will break down!' I must admit that for a while I've tried to neglect the issue and just assume that ALL progress is good progress. I didn't want to feel like some kind of really conservative, anti-progress person because I'm not that at all. Now I realise that's not always the case and that the 'rat race' is not achieving it's goal is it? To make life easier/better/happier. I think the best suggestion I can come up with is just to never forget how to relax. Fortunately I live near lots of excellent countryside and take regular trips to it, but others are not so fortunate and are exposed to all kinds of stress inducing stimuli on a constant basis. So is the fast lane the right lane? I'm not so sure at the moment. Like I said I don't mean to sound overly negative or opposed to change, but what should we be doing to counter-act this? Besides my new-agey type traits of course. :H
no i hate the rat race, i had never been part of it until i moved to manchester and boy is it a pain, i have alsorts of new labels and boy i cant deal with them and what tehy mean to my life, Commuter, homemaker, student, Asda shopper, annoying woman on the bus with a million bags and no patience, someone who works so hard she falls asleep on the bus ont eh way home, stressed out mad woman, and worse of all suffering from bouts of depression. God i sound like a case study but honestly lack of green spaces, busier days, traffic fumes, and rushed meals are making me ill not to mention lack of sleep. I guess i will get used to it in time, and il find ways to make it better/easier? yuck what a lack of vocabe here but thats what it does to you, i go to barcalona for a week tomorrow so i guess i will chill out there My Love as Always Ailsa xxx
Some study from the Lancet or New Scientist or somesuch said that, based on people's view of themselves and others' views of them, there isn't really any direct correlation between relative wealth and relative happiness. People in poorer countries are just as likely to be happy as rich ones.
