So last year at this time I was neither primal/paleo/keto. I was an overweight, very active, poor diet consumer and depressed person riddled with anxiety.
I've been taking a certification course to be a primal health expert and it feels like a refresher of how I've been feeling for a long time. That when we don't have shit to do so we get bored, depressed and make poor decisions.
Before agriculture, people spent their days hunting and gathering. They had to survive. They also played a lot too. Sometimes as much as 6 hours a day! Today, we just exist. We don't have to do much for survival. If we get sick, we don't die. We go to the doctor. If we break a leg, we get it set. These are good things. This is advancement. We live longer. But are we really living? I think some people do just fine existing and advancing. Others don't. They do better at surviving. There are pro's and cons to both surviving and existing. We have so much access to "stuff" in our lives that we forget to keep it simple. We put to much pressure on ourselves to succeed at something that may very well be unattainable.
Anyway, I wrote this last year.
I want to take a stab at how inactivity leads to sadness, a lack of self worth and even depression.
Not just inactivity by choice either. But a general, there is nothing to do. In America, survival is easy. I know I'm generalizing. I know there are people in america that have to work really hard to meet the needs of their family. I'm not saying what you do is easy. In fact, I wish more people could experience a little bit more difficulty in what it means to survive on a daily basis.
On my last trip to Haiti we talked with someone in the medical field about mental illness in the country. It's not very documented nor does it seem to be prevalent as much as in the US.
These thoughts occurred to me while listening to a podcast and the hosts were talking about how awesome it would be to be stranded on an island. There would be such a need for survival. All of the sudden you have more of a purpose than to just exist.
I guess that's like living in Haiti.
Every day is survival mode. Knowing that if you take a day off it sets you back a week. You have goals and strive to meet them. Is it possible to still have depression? I don't know. I'm not an expert. I'm just thinking.
There have been times in the past when I've had slow periods at work. Those days sitting at home are awful. The feeling of not contributing at all. And coping mechanisms cost money or require effort. And you don't even feel like it. You don't even need to go work in the garden, because you probably don't have one. Or tend to you livestock, because you don't have any. In my case, by the time I'd go get a job someone would call for work. But if you are trying to find a job, it can take awhile. And the longer it takes the worse it gets. You could exercise, what for though? What gives you the right to have fun if you aren't contributing?
For me anyway, if I don't feel as though I'm contributing to our household or society in any way I don't deserve to enjoy it. I have to earn it.
What if we all had purpose everyday? When we woke up our feet hit the ground running and worked to accomplish something or move towards a goal. What if we had routine and carved out time for leisure and fun? Or even worked fun into our goals. Or we could be spontaneous in our endeavors still having an end goal in mind.
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