Modern Living and Exhaustion

Too many things to do, and too exhausted to do most of them.  Sound familiar?

Living in a metropolis means there is a lot going on everyday.  Many consider this to be the main advantage of living in a city – the vibrancy, the nightlife, the convenience.  But I can’t help thinking we as people, are becoming more and more stressed due to modern society. 

It’s not so much the city itself, the cluster, or the proximity to anonymous others (which may also cause stress) – It seems very much just the way things function in modern life.  In a concrete jungle, our priorities are different, and in fact, too many priorities might be the reason living is so stressful in modern day environments.

The bombardment of advertising, media, ideals.  Every day you see a billboard with a woman so glamorous, so vogue.  An illusion most of the time: unattainable, so far from uniqueness of you, but inserted into every blank space of our everyday lives that it becomes the ideal you.  Being out of fashion or beauty becomes shameful.  Being old becomes embarrassing – lines and signs that you must hide.  We start to live for what we see: mirrors of illusions.

No doubt in every inch of society and our social lives we come under constant scrutiny and judgment, that it is hard to relax.   When its not coming from directly from a person, it will come from some form of media.  It’s a relaxing day when I can just shut all all the unwanted messages and let my mind breathe again.

What I like doing when I want a really peaceful day is to shut everything off.  Phone, internet, computer.  It’s not restricted to only that.  Newspapers, distractions.  And then I just go do something wordless, like draw, or go for a walk.  And if I do use words, it should be some I write myself.  The worst problem is when I hear some garbage lyrics from a pop song in my head, because its hard to get out.  I just want to listen to quietness, and birds chirping.  Then I realise life is beautiful and special, and that there is a sense of calm to be found under the modern madness.