Life was difficult enough in 1865 without floating down the river just for the fun of it. If you study history, working class people didn't spend nearly as much time on recreation years ago, recreation was for kings and nobles. The lower class people were probably too busy digging tunnels through solid rock by hand for minimal wages to be spending much money on whitewater rafting.
Maybe we didn't have time for a lot of fancy recreation when we were growing up but we were happy playing with homemade toys. Travelling through Nicaraugua with missionary's I learned that some of the poorest people who live in 10x10 shacks are much happier than a lot of wealthy Americans. Just because someone is wealthy, plays all the time and never did physical labor doesn't mean that they are happy. Contentment comes from the sense of accomplishment of getting your hands dirty in the dirt and grease and seeing the fruit of your labors at the end of the day.MM, does that mean I’ve been a serf most of my life, and just now becoming a noble ?
So very true. I believe that Contentment and Gratitude are the roots of Happiness and Joy.
. There is a really interesting book called Tribe, written by Sebastian Junger. The premise is that humans are wired to live in small groups working together against adversity. That adversity or threat could be other tribes, the threat of starvation, etc. He was a journalist embedded with troops for a year in the Koragal Valley, Afghanistan in terrible conditions with the constant threat of death. Everyday they all looked forward to returning home, yet when he returned to the US he found he was depressed and missed Afghanistan. He found many of the other guys did too and that several of the soldiers had re-enlisted. He couldn’t understand why he missed such a horrible place, and eventually came to realize that what he missed was the sense of tribe and the heightened sense of purpose against adversity (staying alive) that was shared with the soldiers he was embedded with. He surmises that a lot of PTSD is related not just to the atrocities of war but to diminished sense of tribe and sense of purpose. Strangely and sadly, war has been one of the few ways that these conditions were recreated for modern Americans.
Your diatribe was a worthwhile read. You have got a lot of things right about the keys to contentment and fulfillment.Yeah, the whitewater rafting rides was a joke. Subsistence living didn’t allow for frivolity. I’ve been lucky enough to work in some of the poorest and least developed places left in this world including West Papua Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. My experience is the same as yours that on the whole these societies were happier than modern American society. I think one big difference was they were happy to have enough. Enough to eat, enough of a shelter to stay dry and warm, enough family and villagers to form community. Americans are conditioned to be mindless consumers always wanting more, that possessions are the scoreboard to determine who is winning in life. Edward Bernays understood how to manipulate human fragility and is considered an architect of the creation of consumerism. His work, methods and 1928 book Propaganda should be taught to students so that they recognize earlier in life not to let others determine how you live. Maybe we’d see an end to “social media influencers” and the Kardashians then.
I think that there are a couple distinct things that drive unhappiness in our modern society. One is a lack of tribe or community. Large cities, broken homes and technology/social media all contribute to this. Social media is a poor substitute for real community (except you guys). There is a really interesting book called Tribe, written by Sebastian Junger. The premise is that humans are wired to live in small groups working together against adversity. That adversity or threat could be other tribes, the threat of starvation, etc. He was a journalist embedded with troops for a year in the Koragal Valley, Afghanistan in terrible conditions with the constant threat of death. Everyday they all looked forward to returning home, yet when he returned to the US he found he was depressed and missed Afghanistan. He found many of the other guys did too and that several of the soldiers had re-enlisted. He couldn’t understand why he missed such a horrible place, and eventually came to realize that what he missed was the sense of tribe and the heightened sense of purpose against adversity (staying alive) that was shared with the soldiers he was embedded with. He surmises that a lot of PTSD is related not just to the atrocities of war but to diminished sense of tribe and sense of purpose. Strangely and sadly, war has been one of the few ways that these conditions were recreated for modern Americans.
1) So the lack of community/tribe and the lack of real adversity faced by Americans in our modern wealthy society may greatly impact our happiness.
2) Coupled with the lack of physical labor which is a form of adversity. Humans need balance, an exercise of the mind and body. Plenty of modern jobs leave out the physical part and leave out a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day. There’s a contentment missing. It’s why an office worker goes home and watches Deadliest Catch on TV. Small tribe, facing adverse conditions in physically demanding jobs that have an accomplishment at the end of the day. Ever notice how many TV shows are people watching other people do physical work? Deadliest Catch, Dirty Jobs, Flip This House, etc? Entertainment used to distract people after a hard days work, now they watch people do hard work. It’s why for many of us our hobbies are important. They replace some of what is lost in the modern workplace.
3) Consumerism, an endless quest for more that has become the religion for far too many Americans.
4) Vitamin D deficiency, seriously stay with me here. Humans were not meant to spend all their time indoors. Your body makes vitamin D from exposure to sunlight. Most Americans are severely vitamin D deficient which has profound impacts on your immune system and mental health. There have been lots of studies performed that demonstrate that people who work outside have less instances of depression and greater overall happiness than those who work indoors. This may be controversial, but recall the stories that black Americans were having worse outcomes with COVID-19, the virus must be racist right? No, the level of melatonin in your skin determines how easy your body makes Vitamin D. Black Americans are on average even more Vitamin D deficient because their environment doesn’t match the environment that their bodies evolved to live in. Just like the insanely high rate of skin cancer in Australia, where European pigmentations are not adapted to the environment.
I apologize guys for the diatribe here. Last week our school had a fifteen year old commit suicide which was the latest in a string of young people (and older) taking their lives around here. I’ve been thinking a lot about what is wrong with our society that this is happening so frequently. I think that the lockdown exacerbated depression for some people struggling with it, but also think that the stuff mentioned above has an impact. Build community, help young people overcome their technology/social media addictions and get outside! Time to take a kid hunting or fishing!
Sent from my iPhone using Deer Hunter Forum
Yeah, the whitewater rafting rides was a joke. Subsistence living didn’t allow for frivolity. I’ve been lucky enough to work in some of the poorest and least developed places left in this world including West Papua Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. My experience is the same as yours that on the whole these societies were happier than modern American society. I think one big difference was they were happy to have enough. Enough to eat, enough of a shelter to stay dry and warm, enough family and villagers to form community. Americans are conditioned to be mindless consumers always wanting more, that possessions are the scoreboard to determine who is winning in life. Edward Bernays understood how to manipulate human fragility and is considered an architect of the creation of consumerism. His work, methods and 1928 book Propaganda should be taught to students so that they recognize earlier in life not to let others determine how you live. Maybe we’d see an end to “social media influencers” and the Kardashians then.
I think that there are a couple distinct things that drive unhappiness in our modern society. One is a lack of tribe or community. Large cities, broken homes and technology/social media all contribute to this. Social media is a poor substitute for real community (except you guys). There is a really interesting book called Tribe, written by Sebastian Junger. The premise is that humans are wired to live in small groups working together against adversity. That adversity or threat could be other tribes, the threat of starvation, etc. He was a journalist embedded with troops for a year in the Koragal Valley, Afghanistan in terrible conditions with the constant threat of death. Everyday they all looked forward to returning home, yet when he returned to the US he found he was depressed and missed Afghanistan. He found many of the other guys did too and that several of the soldiers had re-enlisted. He couldn’t understand why he missed such a horrible place, and eventually came to realize that what he missed was the sense of tribe and the heightened sense of purpose against adversity (staying alive) that was shared with the soldiers he was embedded with. He surmises that a lot of PTSD is related not just to the atrocities of war but to diminished sense of tribe and sense of purpose. Strangely and sadly, war has been one of the few ways that these conditions were recreated for modern Americans.
1) So the lack of community/tribe and the lack of real adversity faced by Americans in our modern wealthy society may greatly impact our happiness.
2) Coupled with the lack of physical labor which is a form of adversity. Humans need balance, an exercise of the mind and body. Plenty of modern jobs leave out the physical part and leave out a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day. There’s a contentment missing. It’s why an office worker goes home and watches Deadliest Catch on TV. Small tribe, facing adverse conditions in physically demanding jobs that have an accomplishment at the end of the day. Ever notice how many TV shows are people watching other people do physical work? Deadliest Catch, Dirty Jobs, Flip This House, etc? Entertainment used to distract people after a hard days work, now they watch people do hard work. It’s why for many of us our hobbies are important. They replace some of what is lost in the modern workplace.
3) Consumerism, an endless quest for more that has become the religion for far too many Americans.
4) Vitamin D deficiency, seriously stay with me here. Humans were not meant to spend all their time indoors. Your body makes vitamin D from exposure to sunlight. Most Americans are severely vitamin D deficient which has profound impacts on your immune system and mental health. There have been lots of studies performed that demonstrate that people who work outside have less instances of depression and greater overall happiness than those who work indoors. This may be controversial, but recall the stories that black Americans were having worse outcomes with COVID-19, the virus must be racist right? No, the level of melatonin in your skin determines how easy your body makes Vitamin D. Black Americans are on average even more Vitamin D deficient because their environment doesn’t match the environment that their bodies evolved to live in. Just like the insanely high rate of skin cancer in Australia, where European pigmentations are not adapted to the environment.
I apologize guys for the diatribe here. Last week our school had a fifteen year old commit suicide which was the latest in a string of young people (and older) taking their lives around here. I’ve been thinking a lot about what is wrong with our society that this is happening so frequently. I think that the lockdown exacerbated depression for some people struggling with it, but also think that the stuff mentioned above has an impact. Build community, help young people overcome their technology/social media addictions and get outside! Time to take a kid hunting or fishing!
Agree completely!
I eat enough fish, plus lots of icecream, plus lots of milk, so I'm probably good on vitamin D. But thanks for the heads up, healthy living equals feeling great. BTW, venison has a lot of vitamins too. Venison has 50% less fat than beef, making it a healthier red meat alternative. And where's it's low in fat, it's high in protein—that's why eating venison is great for anyone trying to build lean muscle.
