Resorting to Extremes

As mentioned, I did a quick visit to a Ski/Mountain-Bike resort as well as a drive through one of the US's most popular national parks. It was high summer and I am told it is summer break for the schools, so of course, all the families are out on the highways in force taking their summer vacations.

I posted just a few days ago about what I see as the miss-guided nature of "Stuffism" as I called it, and it seems to me that this is another aspect of our societies that "misses the point" and it is glaringly obvious to me in my current frame of mind. It seems to me that people don't really know how to relax...

I think that the US is probably one of the worst afflicted (I hear Japan is bad too) and it shows in the general vacation policies for professional organizations. I know, I work for hightech companies and here in the US you get a starting vacation allowance of only two weeks a year (in Canada its three weeks, in Australia its four weeks and those are the only places Ive worked but I here there can be considerably longer allowances in European nations) and in the US it might get up to four weeks after five to seven years of employment with that company!

This has the rather unfortunate effect of making that vacation time incredibly valuable to people. The result of this is that when people do go on vacation, they tend to have very high commitment to their objectives for that time and this leads to equivalently high stress levels. Having as much fun as possible in the shortest amount of time seems to be the main objective. The national park and resort experiences that I just had exemplified this for me:

As I rode and walked around, the "manic intensity" of the resorts was palpable and made it even clearer about how people are mostly "missing the point" and we mostly don't know how to relax. There was abuse and use of car horns in entry lineups to the park. There were lots of athletic young people wearing all the latest clothes covered in Logos of all the best companies and fully equipped with all the latest gear and bikes that the current magazines had declared were the best value this month etc... Everyone was very busily "doing" their goals and nobody seemed to be content to just be!

I know that the idea that nobody knows how to relax seems to be in direct conflict with the rate of obesity in the developed nations (and in the developing nations too for that matter) but I still stand by my point.

"Doesn't this mean that people seem to be relaxing a little too much?"
Well, I think not-

I agree that people in general are not looking after their bodies and not getting enough exercise along with getting significantly too much food but I don't think this is caused by over "relaxing" as I mean it.

"And when people are watching their TVs in the evenings, again are they not relaxing a little too much?"
Again, I think not, and this helps clarify what I mean by relax!


What I think is happening is that we have become very good at lazing about with both our bodies and our intellects but its not what I'd call "quality time" and I don't think it relaxes the "person".
What I mean by that is that I don't think that it actually rejuvenates us or releases our stresses in a productive fashion. I think we are just switching off our intellects in the evenings and leaving our minds running - and then we go and feed our mind with the TV - the intellectual equivalent of "junk food" in its worst sense! We then switch our intellect back on next morning with the same stress levels. Likewise, I think we very often add to rather than reduce our stress levels with our intense vacation plans for maximum "fun".
For myself, in the past, Ive mostly been just as much a part of this behavior as the next person. My tastes have been less in line with the "resort" type behavior, and more in line with outdoor and wilderness activities. However, the "maximize fun" was very definitely part of my credo. Its just all part of the go fast, get it done, be efficient mentality!
And its caused by the same thing - "everyone else is doing it, I should too" (with whatever flavour I like best).

Again, for myself I can say that I've had lots of fun, and lots of experiences (many of them valuable, unique, and irreplaceable), but I think on the whole my stress levels have rarely been reduced in any real or productive way by this behavior. And, therefore my overall happiness and well being (for want of a better description) has not really been improved either!

Again, it seems that we've collectively, "lost the plot" on this front!

... And I don't know that it will easily be found either... until things really break down!...