I don't know if it's actually harder. I think we've become enslaved by our conveniences, and the sort of stress produced in order to retain those conveniences is not compatible with the human psyche.
I agree, to a point. I think a lot of their stress comes from the fear of being inadequate to the task of providing even the basics. I noticed on cable that so many shows deal with survival in the past few years, not counting the 'vote 'em off the island' thing. Mainly fundamental skills, even if the camera crew and a medic are waiting just out of the frame. At first I was skeptical of those shows, but now I'm glad for them. If nothing else, a couple of them might provide some insight to just why folks like us are how we are, and perhaps awaken some latent desire that will at least convince them we aren't crazy hermits crawling out from under a rock, but people who have chosen that the way we live counts for more than this year's fashion (still Carharts), or the latest trendy stuff. We like what works, what we can fix if it breaks, what will endure in a pinch, or knowing a half-dozen ways to get the job done. That doesn't mean we shun technology (I
am writing this on the internet, on a computer, but that we aren't beholden to it as its slaves, nor beholden to the opinions of people we have never met that we know to be either fundamentally incorrect, or just not applicable to our circumstances. We don't expend as much energy fighting nature (by constructing artificial worlds increasingly reliant on technologies with multiple potential points of failure), but rather spend our energies just getting along with nature, and trying to make the most of the blessings in front of us.
Some folks will never understand that, they are too wed to their artfully crafted world, and that's okay as long as they do not seek to impose that on the rest of us. There is plenty of room for those microcosms, as long as they don't try to force us in.
Ironically, this is the 'diversity' they should crow about.
A bear comes at you, fight or flight kicks in and saves your butt.
If you can't make your bills, fight or flight kicks in and gives you ulcers.
True enough. The natural stresses have been replaced by human constructs, all needed to keep the construct running smoothly. Humans aren't fundamentally wired for that, but it gives those who can manipulate within a construct the edge. Strip away those rules, and the whole thing breaks. Humans don't set the rules in the sticks, but that doesn't mean we don't have to pay attention to them. It just means you get some dirt or grime under your fingernails, but we aren't the manicured set anyway, so, no stress. There may be an envy factor as well, because the difference in the stresses of a fundamental existence are so basic, instinctive even, and, well, less, that those living within the ever-changing construct deal with artificial stress which increases the higher their status, although those well adapted to that environment probably don't even notice.
Get a few miles out of town and all the things I do for fun, for stress relief, are just every day work.
Yep.
