The way our lives are structured often determines how healthy we are.
Do we have to drive a lot? Then we’re not walking much.
Do we have to work 10 hours per day, 5 days per week? Then we’re not socializing much.
Do we have too much debt? Then we have stress.
Do we have too much debt? Then we have to work a lot and have too much stress, and we’re not socializing much.
Do we have a long commute, do we have to drive a lot because of it? Then we don’t have as much time to prepare healthy meals, socialize, or rest.
Do we have to work a lot, drive a lot, stress a lot, and eat a lot of junk food? Then blood pressure goes up.
Do we not have the time or the energy to socialize? Then we have fewer outlets for social connection.
Do we have to work a lot, and drive a lot? Then we’re aren’t in touch with neighbors or with nature. So this adds more stress.
We are caught in what Harmut Rosa, the famous German sociologist, calls a “logic of escalation” where we have too much, too many debts, too much demand for more, and too much in general, which causes us to feel like we’re constantly escalating- and can never quite keep up.
The key to resistance is not to “slow down” according to Rosa, it’s to find ways to “resonate.” It takes a type of communication, a working with, a type of seeing and understanding to live with resonance. Maybe it’s with music, or nature, or with prayer, or rituals, or friends, or meditation.
It’s extremely hard, for all of us. Escalation prevents resonance.
We live in a structurally unhealthy society.
High blood pressure, anxiety, social isolation, it’s all connected.
Think about how we can restructure and find things that resonate with us.
