We are all a bit human

Posted on September 4, 2024  •  8 minutes  • 1535 words

How to Stop Being a “Horse” and Start Living

The last publication on the possible “physical” nature of depression sparked many questions. Despite the variety of these questions, they all boil down to one super-question.

What’s the question? Bring it to the studio!

“What should I do?"

That’s the question. But before answering it, let me remind you of the content of the previous publication, briefly.

The body must eat less (diet, vegetarianism). Sleep less. Rest less. And work more. What does it get in return?! Why should it do everything you demand of it for your sapiens-like goals, which have absolutely no relation to its basic needs?

As a result, constant lack of sleep can lead… to depression. Constant dieting (God forbid you gain a kilogram) can lead you… to depression. Constant mental overexertion can lead to depression.

In short, if you treat your body like livestock, exploiting it for the sake of your career and diamonds, the body can fall into depression. The body, not the mind. Because your body stops understanding why it lives. No eating, no sleeping, and no resting. Just work, work, and work.

Naturally, as soon as I wrote this, readers immediately shouted at me in various voices:

“What should I do?"

Alright. We’ve found the answer to the question of “who’s to blame.” Now let’s ponder “what to do.”

Mental, But Still Labor

Some deceitful psychologists claim that humans use only a few percent of their brain’s supposed potential. Why deceitful?! Because it’s a lie.

How fast can you run 100 meters? Let’s assume in 15 seconds. These 15 seconds are your natural limit. Natural, I emphasize this. To improve these results, you need systematic training. This might allow you to run 100 meters in, say, 10 seconds. After that, you’ll reach the absolute limit of your physical abilities.

This is true for mental labor as well. Let’s assume that you run the “mental 100 meters” in 15 “mental seconds.” This is your natural limit.

With systematic training, you can improve your mental capacity, perhaps even double the result. But not triple or tenfold, as some psychologists promise.

Without training, increased mental loads are akin to attempting physical work that’s beyond your capacity. At best—in the best case—you simply won’t be able to do it, just like an ordinary person can’t lift a 150-kilogram barbell. If, God forbid, you manage, it comes at great risk to your health.

So, increasing your workload is only possible with systematic training. This is equally true for both physical and mental labor. Period.

Why is this so important!? Because modern work is increasingly becoming mental labor. People work with their heads, physical labor is reduced to nothing, and there are no muscles in the brain, so it seems like there’s nothing there to get tired.

As a result, there’s a harmful misconception (unfortunately supported and spread) that mental workloads can be limitless. But this is a lie. Mental labor, like physical labor, must strictly correspond to your natural capabilities.

Nippeling

When a baby is born, its existence revolves around satisfying its physical needs. It’s constantly hungry. It sleeps a lot. It loves being held by its mother.

It can’t speak, it doesn’t understand anything. Its life is reflexive and instinctive. However, note that this new life is quite self-sufficient. It doesn’t need meaning, life goals, motivation, or willpower. It’s perfectly content with what the body desires.

Or take animals. Here’s a cat. It ate some “Whiskas” and is peacefully sleeping on the chair. It doesn’t need a meaning in life or an answer to the question of why it exists in the world.

As the child develops, it forms social skills that don’t always align with its physical needs. For example, it needs to be woken up because it has to go to kindergarten at 8 AM. It’s fed not when it’s hungry, but at lunch, snack, and dinner. The child learns to “wait” if the bathroom is occupied. There’s a gradual shift from simple physical needs to complex social demands.

And the further it goes, the more intense it becomes. Living by the clock. Eating on schedule. Waking up to an alarm. Who needs all this? Society. Only society. Because personally, you don’t need it at all.

As a result, a conflict arises between physical and social needs. I want to sleep, but I have to wake up and go to work. I want sweets, but that’s unhealthy. I’m tired, but there are still several hours left in the workday. And I’m constantly forcing myself to do what I don’t want to do, while I can’t afford to do what I want. Chronically, I can’t.

This painful state of chronically forcing yourself to live by society’s demands is what I call “nippeling.” From the word “nipple,” which, as you know, works one way. So does a person-nipple. They sacrifice their own needs to satisfy society’s “demands.” More studying. More working. Waking up when the workday schedule requires it. And so on.

The result?! A loss of meaning in life. Chronic fatigue syndrome. Depression. Not your mind, but your body (due to the complete neglect of its needs) loses the “meaning to live.” That’s why many people experience depression without any apparent reason. Everything seems fine, you have everything, and life is beautiful and amazing, but… you have no energy, and you don’t want to live.

You ask what to do? Isn’t it obvious?

• Rest. Fully. At least sometimes. Work can wait.
• Sleep enough. At least sometimes. Allow yourself to sleep as much as you want.
• Indulge yourself with something tasty and sweet. At least sometimes. And forget about the calories.
• Allow yourself to be sick (without worrying about work or chores). At least sometimes. Just be sick.

You need balance between satisfying physical and social needs. For example, today I want to write this article, and I sacrifice rest to finish it. But tomorrow, if I want to rest, I’ll sacrifice the article for rest. You can also combine these needs: if you decide to cut down on sleep, treat yourself to a sweet pastry. Or, conversely, if you refrain from sweets, give your body an extra hour of sleep (or something else).

Satisfy your body’s needs. This is the best prevention against losing the meaning of life, melancholy, apathy, chronic fatigue syndrome, and depression.

“I’ll Work Even More”

This is what the horse in George Orwell’s famous tale Animal Farm constantly said. If there was a flood, it worked even more. If the windmill collapsed, it worked even more. If there was a bad harvest, it worked even more. And it went on until it collapsed and couldn’t get up. After which it was loaded onto a cart and sent to the slaughterhouse.

Thank goodness, society is slowly beginning to realize that this path—“I’ll work even more”—is a direct road to depression, nervous disorders, and physical illnesses. And that people desperately need some real alternatives to this exhausting perspective.

Currently, there are several social trends that offer a fundamentally different path of development, one more free from society’s exhausting demands.

Freelance

A freelancer, loosely translated, is a “free artist.” They don’t have a permanent workplace, performing one-time jobs by agreement. This article, for example, is pure freelancing. It’s written for a magazine where I don’t work, but I regularly write articles for them and get paid for it.

Freelancers have many advantages. They aren’t tied to a workplace, at the very least. Their client can be anyone interested (regardless of location). Freelancers can work at any convenient time (I, for example, am a “night owl” and prefer working at night). Freelancers don’t have problems with coworkers. A freelancer belongs solely to themselves: they’re their own boss and their own employee.

Downshifting

The primary value system of modern society is focused on career growth, success, and material achievements. Downshifters reject this “rat race” for success. They prefer to “live for themselves.” They choose calmer (and less stressful) jobs. They leave the business world. Or they even move to the countryside.

Childfree

Childfree individuals consciously decide not to have children. Not because they can’t, but because they don’t want to. Instead, they gain more free time for leisure, more freedom for their career, far less financial responsibility (which skyrockets when a child enters the family), and many other advantages.

Childfree people are often criticized for being too selfish, and that not wanting children is “unnatural.” But don’t pay attention to that. What’s unnatural is not the refusal to have children, but the quality of life that society imposes as the only correct one.

Study more, work more, remember more, achieve more. More, more, more. That’s what’s really unnatural. And until something changes drastically, these trends will only continue to grow in popularity.

Conclusion

The trends I’ve listed aren’t a guide to action. They merely illustrate the attitudes forming in society in response to its excessive demands.

Perhaps you don’t need such drastic changes. But achieving a balance between your physical needs and social demands is absolutely necessary in any case.

Satisfy your body’s needs. This is the best prevention against losing the meaning of life, melancholy, apathy, chronic fatigue syndrome, and depression.

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