ARE WE GETTING SOFTER? If happiness depended only on objective conditions such as wealth, health and social relations, it would have been relatively easy to to investigate in history. The finding that it depends on subjective expectations makes the task of historians far harder. We moderns have an arsenal of tranquillisers and painkillers at our disposal, but our expectations of ease and pleasure, and our intolerance of inconvenience and discomfort, have increased to such an extent that we may well suffer from pain more than our ancestors ever did. Its hard to accept this line of thinking. - Sapiens by Noah Harari In short: how easily you suffer pain or unhappiness depends on what you consider normal. Grow up in a tough ancient Sparta and you wont even flinch if you step on the ground barefoot nor will you be unhappy that they only serve the same blood-stew every night at the barracks. Perhaps this explains the old perception that today we are all getting softer. It is almost impossible to imagine that we are not because of the level by which our relative comfort and security has gone up. This may be one important, and oft overlooked, variable in the Kenyan and Ethiopian dominance - they are used to greater average levels of discomfort and less leisure (not the only factor, of course, many people live in harsh conditions but are not world class runners). They are not stressed or unhappy if they only get a dull meal after each run or have to run barefoot to school in the morning, something that is sure to have a negative effect on most Western kids if asked to do it. Our forefathers too were used to less leisure. Joss Naylor, the great British fell runner, is a good example. A man used to many daily hardships and daily pain from old injuries. You can be sure that if he reported pain, then he was probably near death! But what can we do about this as we sit in our plush chairs, holding a latte in our soft hands? Simple: accept that avoiding discomfort is not the goal of life. Invite some of it into your life: be cold some times, take the stairs, push yourself to beyond your comfort zone when running (such as by trying running barefoot on an unusual surface or running harder or longer than you are used to), try to skip a meal every now and again, do a push-up with your hands in gravel even if it stings a bit, do a short run in the pouring rain without ten layers of Goretex and say yes to challenges that make you think ugh, that sounds uncomfortable. Even without great genetic potential, the person who has the greatest tolerance for discomfort will be at an advantage both in sport and in all other walks of life. So invite it into your life and remember: Happiness and comfort is subjective - it depends on what you place around you.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 16:17:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015