So if we have everything we need and everything we want, why is depression widespread? Logically speaking we can argue that being grateful for that which we have, along with being grateful of life and all the wonders it provides, should create a sense of happiness that repels depression. But as humans we still feel as much as we breathe, therefore there will never be a cure for such an emotion.
Its no secret that our ancestors and theirs before had much tougher issues to deal with. They fought other living beings, animal and human, to provide basic necessities we get today. Luxuries were exclusive to bloodlines that ruled vast countries and later merchants who excelled at being on top of a developing economy. The rest, the majority, had to build their homes, sew their clothes, kill their food, and find clean water to support themselves as well as their families, and many times their community. A far distant reality from today´s mega store mentality, and concrete copy houses.
Today´s luxuries live hand in hand with our necessities, a phenomenon that has been around for at least a century. Televisions that inform, entertain, and educate us are about as common as windows in a house. The internet provides us not only with information of all sorts, but keeps us connected to others no matter the distance. And as social media spreads, outings with friends are easier and more frequent .
So after having named just a few of the things that most people have the good fortune of having, the question persists - where is this great wave of depression coming from?
I believe life has been made too easy in these modern times. We still have to go through some effort to do what we want to do, get what we need, and fulfill our goals, but we don´t feel the threat of failure as menacing as it was in the past. Your food is not going to try to kill you, your family is unlikely to starve and your community will always have a source of drinkable water.
Yet the effort of surviving and living today is virtually not rewarding at all. Money pretty much does all the effort for us. We no longer need to resort to what our ancestors once did to survive because as we progressed, society decided that the easier the effort, the more comfortable the person and thus you get a happier person. How wrong they are.
Unfortunately, if easy tasks are done repetitively for long periods of time, the individual will naturally become less interested in doing such tasks. The problem at hand is that those things we do in a repetitive and easy manner are often life sustaining tasks. There no longer is any satisfaction from eating a meal, drinking water, or having a home. And at the same time, no matter how much pleasure we get from watching a good t.v show, visiting an interesting website, or going out to the same movie theater, it all becomes duller and duller as the experience is repeated over time.
I believe today’s depression is caused by a widespread feeling of dissatisfaction in society that in itself is fueled by repetitiveness, and self doubt. Depressed individuals today have everything they need to satisfy their needs and waste their time, yet routines may sometimes disguise themselves as mental chains that make progress difficult.
Take for example creating something new. To achieve this an individual must set his energy to confront the many challenges that will pose the development and birth of something. It only fails if the individual refuses to set his energy into something else, which leads to not creating, which dulls life for the individual,
The act of creating in the context of the development of the individual is absolutely necessary in order to achieve happiness. The arts have provided an output for emotions for as long as they have existed. We can argue that any creation is art, but the truth is that as long as the individual creates, he or she will in the end have some sort of satisfaction over what was personally created. Coincidentally, decades ago most people had to create things with their own hands in order to sustain themselves or to entertain themselves.
Individuals barely create anything today. We think of ourselves as unable to paint, play music, act , speak, compete, write or even think critically. Since we have everything we need, some think of these actions as unnecessary and too hard, when the reality is that its what we must do if we want to get out of the great cesspit of depression. Very few people today even engage in some form of art worthy of the human soul. We think of ourselves as unable to create things, so instead we engage in mindless activities, enjoying the artistic output of others through a box, a screen, a building, a stage, a table or many other ways art can express itself.
We need to bring ourselves to create. Look at your hands, these tools can create unimaginable things. They have the potential to do anything, and they provide happiness. Society must stop searching for answers to heal depression and start unlocking the full potential of all individuals who are capable of anything on this great earth. Answers lead to more questions; Creations lead to more creations which will always satisfy one's soul.
So I urge you to break from those useless thoughts and routines and start doing what you truly want to do right now. Create new things for others and for yourself. Live life with no mental restrictions, and although you may fail at many things, you will still feel a great sense of satisfaction from having created something. And happiness will surely be there.
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