American GoGo

You wake up earlier than you want to, earlier than is healthy, and you are already running late. The list of things you need to complete cannot physically be done in the time you have, and this is before you even leave for work. You work most of your day, you have too much to get done so you work through lunch. You don’t make enough money working all day so you have to go to your second job. You’re late for your second job because you had to stay late at your first. The list of things you need to get done at the end of the night is too long for the time you have, so you go to sleep later than you want, later than is healthy. What you don’t do is spend time doing the things you love, pursuing your passions in life. What you don’t make time for is your friends, your family. You see your friends through social media. You see those you love briefly as you rush from one place to another, “I miss you, I know…hopefully we can spend some time at the end of the week, I don’t know…I’m running late, I have to go… love you too” you say, pulling away the entire time. No time for love, no time to be in the moment, no time to live and be happy.  

This description of life is all too true for way too many of us, and we are all suffering greatly for it. A mentality of being always on the go, a socioeconomic reality where we are always being squeezed out, our wages stagnant as prices rise. We struggle day in and day out to survive for a life we barely get to live. We waste away our lives constantly in Go mode, always climbing for some imaginary place in which we will finally be able to relax and enjoy our lives. We need to break from this cycle, both individually and as a society, if we ever truly want to be happy and fix the issues crippling our nation.  

Most people like to see themselves as independent thinkers, claiming that their behaviors are unique and their habits are formed by their own personalities. Most people don’t realize how powerful a shaping force their society is, and how much that affects their thoughts and habits.  The truth is that the same individualistic, self-sufficient, “work until you make it big, or die trying” attitude that makes America so productive is also destroying our lives. The idea that our fate is completely dependent upon our own actions, that we must fight and struggle against one another in order to find happiness, completely clashes with our innate desire to work together as a society and to help one another out. In this twisted sense of accomplishment, one who is ruthless, willing to discard others for personal gain, and values material possessions over interpersonal connections is the one who is idolized and followed. We are meant to spend our time on this planet with one another, yet our society is continuously pushing us to sacrifice our lives for a seat at this fabled table of fame and prosperity.

This idea that is so ingrained in our society, that any and every misfortune that falls upon us is our own fault, and whatever position we find ourselves in is based solely on just how hard we work is not only fundamentally false, but our attempt to adhere to it is making us sick. We are unbelievably connected as a society, and our livelihood and position is in so many ways determined by the actions of others as well as things out of our control. We have the ability to shape a system that adheres to our evolution ingrained desire for connection, caring and love, but instead, we have developed a society in which we are all fighting among one another, disconnected and always one step away from being left behind. Instead of developing connections in which we guarantee that we are all taken care of, and our lives can be filled with what matters, we have developed a system of constant competition based upon degrees of control. Those with money have control over those who don’t, and they are constantly shaping a system of ever increasing control in which everyone below them has become more and more desperate. They then continue feeding this narrative, that the struggle isn’t getting harder because of their manipulations, you’re just not trying hard enough, you’re just not good enough. They cut the ladder from under you and then say “you see? All you had to do was climb and you have nobody to blame but yourself for the fall.”

We have a responsibility to work hard and contribute to society to the best of our ability. We should always strive to achieve our dreams and to better ourselves, but there comes a point when we need to see that our aspirations and the narrative of rugged individualism have been dangled in front of us and led us into a form of societal slavery that we willingly trudge forward into every day. We need to see how badly we are being conned because it is not even being hidden anymore, it is being done brazenly in the daylight and we are being told to cheer for it.

After years of saving, my fiance and I visited Switzerland and France, and there were so many interesting cultural differences (that I will be talking about in a separate writing) but the main thing I couldn’t help but notice is that there seemed to be so many more people spending their time with one another. People would truly sit and enjoy their meals; groups filled the parks with one another, so many seemed to be able to just sit and be in the present moment and be happy. I am not naive enough to think that these countries don’t have their own issues, and I definitely saw plenty of people rushing to and from obligations as well as many immigrants and refugees struggling to get by, but I could truly feel a difference in the way people acted. There wasn’t that tension I feel like I see every day in America. It baffled me to think that we are the richest nation in the world, yet there I was surrounded by people who had universal healthcare, guaranteed maternity leave, a months vacation a year, hour-long lunch breaks, and a society that just seems to value enjoying life over slaving away.

I do my best to be in the moment and enjoy life, but I am guilty of succumbing to this mentality of American GoGo as well. Unfortunately, in order to be able to break away from this mentality, we need to break away from our current reality. Economic mobility is decreasing, the gap between rich and poor is widening and we are constantly seeing policies being implemented that benefit those at the top at the expense of everyone else. Do you remember how Bernie Sanders’ $75 billion universal college plan would bankrupt us? We just increased our already insanely high military budget by $61 billion without debate. Universal healthcare would cost us less than our current health system. The list goes on, but the point is the same. We are being duped, conned, hoodwinked and tricked into thinking that there isn’t enough and we must fight over the scraps. The truth is, it is being taken from us, and we are being told it is our fault.

We need to fight for progressive policies to give us our true share of the richest society in human history. We need to change our society so that we may change our mentality and learn how to stop going all the time. We need to remember what it was like to spend our days with our loved ones, enjoying our meals and our time off. Until that fight is won, we need to try our best to slow down. Take whatever time you can and just stop. Take a longer lunch. Spend time with your family and friends. If you are always on the run, always going, you will end up running through life and never actually living.

Happiness comes from being in the moment, and when you’re always going, you are always putting your mind in an imaginary world one step ahead of you that you will never reach.