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you don't need consumerism or mass media to be happy
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this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2024
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I didn't realize I needed money to sleep well... Or to have a slow morning... Or to listen to birds sing?
Even in third world countries you'd have this...
Hard to have a slow morning and day naps when you're rushing between two jobs because you don't have money.
If you had money, you could be more selective in finding work that provided the balance and flexibility needed to appreciate the things in life that are free.
But all of these things are too expensive when you're time-poor, and most people are time poor because they're desperately trying to avoid being financially poor.
We're talking about a very small amount of people who have to work multiple jobs 7 days a week, with many more poor people who don't do that.
And you didn't cover the birds singing, which you can do pretty much any place...
I think you're underestimating how much labour the global poor perform in a 24 hour period, 7 days a week.
But yes, many of these things can be possible if you prioritise them for your mental health, my point is just that it's not always easy to prioritise mental health when you're focused on physical survival.
But obviously, if you can include these things in your routine, you absolutely should, there are virtually no downsides.
I don't think I am actually.
I think it's almost impossible to miss every single one of these all the time. I have worked with the extremely poor, and watched documentaries of people in third world countries regularly. Most people even those who are literal third world slaves (indebted for life) can still regularly enjoy at least 2 of these things regularly.
I'm not saying it's not shit and that ideally everyone should experience all of them, but it's unrealistically cynical and nihilistic to think everyone poor is just miserable and doesn't enjoy anything.
My god you are clueless. Have you moved out of your parent's home yet? I'm just curious where you are in your life? If you moved, were you given a stable and well funded childhood? I'm just trying to understand the disconnect.
Yeah I've lived out of home for close to 2 decades.
I think people here are being extremely dramatic if they say they never are able to sleep in or never have a chance to hear birds singing though, or to watch a sunset. That is absolute hyperbolic bullshit.
Unless this post is about doing it every day (which it isn't), then everyone gets to enjoy these luxuries at least semi-regularly.
A lot of people cannot get a good night of sleep because they have to wake up super fucking early in order to arrive at their work on time. A number of them might then go from work straight to classes (like a cheap college-level graduation, in hopes of getting a better paying job sometime in the future), so by the time they get home, their free time is spent caring for the home and prepping for tomorrow. Even those that have "free nights" may not end up spending that time for leisure
Birds singing are rare in big cities. You know, the so called concrete jungles? They'll have a number of pigeons and sparrows, but depending on the city, the lack of trees means that's the only 2 kinds of birds you'll see or hear, period.
People are missing the forest for the trees. These are luxuries yes, but missing every single one of them is an extreme poverty of life as it'd be extremely hard to do.
Stress ruins everything