The Problem with Convenience
posted in List Marketing |We live in a civilization that values convenience over maybe all else. A lot of the technologies we have developed in this world are purely designed to help us live lives that are simpler, without giving us an opportunity to experience life in a deeper way. New kinds of sacks and go to bags are being developed to help us carry things easier, but what developments are being made to help us carry the emotional baggage? The psychological and spiritual dimensions of our lives are being increasingly seen as something that’s not as valuable than the more visible aspects of our lifestyle.
Consider today’s state of depression in a lot of people throughout the Western world. This depression often occurs in those who are perhaps middle-class, and living with some level of comfort. Why is it that those who seemingly have decent lives are getting depressed? Well, the reason it’s not so common to see poorer individuals depressed is that they just don’t have enough time to focus on their problems.
This sounds like a hollow reading of the situation, but if you consider it it’s actually quite true. When we have a lot of time on our hands, we’re able to go through events and situations in our head again and again. This can be a great thing, to a certain extent, but if we’re given a lot of spare time with which to just sit and consider our lives, we’re eventually going to start getting too worried. Problems that really would not be such a big problem start to gain weight and significance, and after long enough it can become difficult just to get out of bed in the morning.
Let’s consider an example. Say you’re meeting a friend in a week’s time, someone who you’ve had some kind of trouble with in previous times. If you’re busy until then, you won’t have much time to dwell on these problems, and you’ll meet them in a relatively open fashion. If you just sit and think about these problems the whole time, though, you might start to develop more anger and mistrust over these previous troubles. Of course, these problems only exist in your own mind, and the reality of the situation may be something totally different. We often believe we can solve problems if we think about them enough, but the fact of the matter is that it’s only with the act of doing that problems get resolved.
Similar to this, we believe that more advanced technology will assist us get through the troubles of life, when some of these difficulties are in fact an essential part of what life’s about. Science and technology has helped the size of our TV’s, but human relationships are as tough as ever.
When we live in a world where we’re used to getting all things easily, coming across something like a tough relationship can become too troublesome to want to deal with. While science has spoiled us, we need to break through this barrier and embrace the challenges that life offers us.
