It’s no wonder our society’s more depressed than ever.
In a heavily distracted world, we have no shortage of pleasure-seeking activities to keep us comfortably numb throughout our day. With the help of corporations and media, we sway between the pendulum of boredom and anxiety–avoiding pain at all costs.
Starbucks wakes us up–Spotify eases our morning commute–Amazon is there to relieve us of a grueling 10 plus hour work day–Seamless to the rescue once we finally get home–leaving just enough time to shop for a soulmate on Tinder and Netflix to tuck us into bed.
Meanwhile, social media “influencers” are there to kill any downtime–while clickbait ads pop up every two seconds–as we scroll endlessly for our daily dopamine fix and cure our bout of FOMO. Before we know it, the subconscious game of comparison creeps in–leaving us feeling more vacant than ever. And when we’re really sad? There’s a pill for that–or a self-help book on finding happiness to get us through.
Slowly all the noise and distractions corrode our minds, making us emotionally exhausted and physically sick. The result? An overworked, overweight, overstimulated, self-medicated and anxious culture. The sad truth is, we’ve never been more connected AND disconnected than this very moment–from ourselves and each other.
The beautiful side to this harsh reality is that we get to decide–with the power to take control of our behavior and lives. Through our daily choices, we can make a conscious effort to turn down the volume and eliminate the clutter that keeps us asleep. And finally, we can tend to the nervous tick that makes us anxious to begin with.
Because once we fight the war that matters most, life is so much better. We can finally persevere to get what we really want.
And besides, having someone else dictate our happiness and success just doesn’t make sense–but a life of intention, meaning and purpose definitely does.