Lifestyle

I have spent the past few days thinking and reading about the various things that comprise a healthy lifestyle, and I found one thing about our lives today. It's all wrong. Nearly everything we do is eventually going to either make us very sick, or just kill us.

1. We are extremely busy. All the stress leads to less sleep, anxiety, depression, fatigue, bad choices in everything that we do - we look for shortcuts in every thing. We buzz buzz buzz around, flitting from one task to the next, like our hindquarters were on fire. No time for thought, rest, food, feeling, love, contemplation.

2. We eat all the wrong food. Fried, sweetened, overcooked, processed, much too salty or sugary, highly caffeinated, nicotine/trans-fat filled. Doesn't that sound like everything we eat? Exactly my point.

3. Our values are all completely messed up. When everything becomes a competition, how will you be able to relax and get your eyes off of your competitor's progress? Nasty, stinking, competition is everywhere, and in everything. It's disgusting - absolutely revolting. When you think of competition, picture the most disgusting thing you can think of, something that will make you puke - because that's how bad it is. All that nonsense we are fed about healthy competition is a load of crap. Healthy competition eventually transforms into that disgusting thing you pictured, and then, there literally is no turning back.

4. Our highly consumerist and industrialized lifestyle is sucking the life out of life as it should be. The environment is at risk of being seriously affected, the health of the collective is in serious jeopardy, we are all now programmed to kill or to eat each other alive if it meant that, in doing so, we are closer to success.

5. More alcohol, sodas, drugs use, PSP playing, TV watching - no time to do the real stuff, like painting or singing or dancing - or even just talking.

6. We are no longer focused on doing a few defined tasks to the best of our abilities - but Nora is trying to outdo her neighbour, Sally by taking on everything she does, even if it doesn't come naturally to her - she doesn't do it because she enjoys it, but just to tell her, or show her that she is better. It is impossible to do everything everyone else does - the purpose of community is to give each person due credit for the things each individual is good at, and to help each other out. It is definitely not to constantly try to outdo one another.

Competition is a very weird way of living, in that you are literally telling yourself that you need to outdo someone else to prove to yourself that you are worthy. Competition makes your entire life about being better than someone else. It fuels the ego of the winner, and frustrates those who didn't make it, deeming all the efforts they put in null and void in the eyes of the collective. We go from being a happy friendly world to a cruel, and unfriendly world in a second.

Research has validated the expression - jack of all trades; master of none. Apparently, when you keep switching from one job to another too many times (more than 5-10 times a day), you get dumber, meaning your IQ level literally drops over time. So in trying to become superman, you become a doorpost. It is apparently wise and productive to make checklists of a few tasks, and to give it your complete attention as opposed to taking on an impractical number of tasks - you endanger your health (physical and mental), and you become this unpleasant, tired, neurotic person that everybody hates.

I like to prioritize my work, and to give myself rewards for accomplishing said goals, irrespective of the result. I also like to work in some me time, where I don't plan what to do, but only that I give myself that time to be spontaneous - and do anything I feel like doing. Trust me, I am a happy person because of it - I reward myself for being focused and productive, irrespective of what anyone thinks. I consider myself a successful, irrespective of the results I get.  I set goals that are meaningful to me. That way I know where I am going. In my mind, I am neither a winner nor a loser - I am just not in the competition because none of it makes ANY kind of sense to me because life is subjective. Competition and examinations are not an accurate judge of talent.

The lack of time to think is a big one too, and fewer minds are trained to think about the truths of life these days. It is very important for a human being to get in touch with his/her surroundings and to assess their own progress in life. It is important for an individual to constantly look within, rediscover themselves, and to see if their lives are in harmony with their soul.

Are they doing what they set out to do? Are their choices entirely their own, or are they being pushed into believing someone else's beliefs? Are they being true to themselves? Are they communicating with their conscience? Is their conscience happy with them? OR are they constantly living life to please others, completely destroying themselves and losing their purpose for living? What are the things they are truly blessed with? Is there a way to find contentment with what they have at the moment? Is something causing them to worry? Why are they worried? Is there a possibility that the situation can be dealt with? Or is there no actual cause for worry? Are they being absolutely everything they can be?

These are important questions that an individual constantly needs to ask himself/herself and find honest answers to - not outside, not in other people, but within themselves. People hardly spend time thinking about these things. Even if they do think about some of those things, they are approached in a very selfish, opportunistic way. Only when one is truly at harmony with oneself can he/she find the wisdom to help another. This is why people do not help each other for no apparent reason like they used to. Everything is done with an expectation of profit or some sort of personal gain. That's not being nice to others - that's being nice to yourself.


Back to health now -

The lack of sleep is what is ranked highest in the cause for many illnesses - apparently sleep deprivation prevents the rejuvenation of the organs of our body, and causes serious hormonal imbalances, like the production of Cortisol (the stress hormone) and the hunger hormone (ghrelin) that leads to salt/sugar cravings that; if entertained, will lead to obesity and further hormonal imbalances. It's like a vicious circle.

The consumption of the food I mentioned above, lead to poor heart health, a dramatic decrease in cognitive function, increased risk of neurodegenerative disorders and other serious disorders. One increasing problem in female reproductive health today is the Polycystic Ovary Disease/Syndrome (PCOD/PCOS).

The toll that our high stress, consumerist lifestyle takes on teenage girls is the hormonal imbalance that leads to the improper functioning of their reproductive system. The LH (Leutenizing Hormone) surge that is necessary for the regular release of the finite number of eggs stored in a woman's ovaries is disrupted, leading to a difficulty in conception when she does decide to have children. Further, the unhealthy practices of binge drinking, the use of narcotics, stress and sleep deprivation along with the consumption of food additives in everything lead to poor reproductive health as well. Either they can't get pregnant because most of the eggs in their ovaries have been destroyed, leading to a disappointingly low follicular count. Or, if they do, they miscarry because the uterine environment is hostile - or stress.

None of what we do is real anymore. We eat fake food, we breathe dirty air, we do fake things, we, at best only tolerate people around us, and have little, if at all any time for each other. Although we have all the most convenient ways to live now, none of it is actually real. Keep this going, and it won't be a natural disaster killing all of us - this will be a different kind of deluge - this time, we will be the cause of our own destruction.
It's Armageddon waiting to happen, whichever way you slice it. Only this time, it will be a different kind of flood.