I lived in a suburban cul-de-sac for years while fighting depression. It’s seriously soul-crushing staring out at a sea of rooftops.
I still recommend walks every day though. It doesn’t matter if you have pretty views or not, you were designed to move around and walk, we are all descended from hunter-gatherers and people who walked huge distances for survival. Walking resets your current rumination session and reframes your present moment.
Part of surviving in the modern world is learning how to create your own mental states and perceptions of your environment so you don’t end up wallowing in a sense of hopelessness or feel trapped every day.
We’ve been dominantly settled farmers for millenia now, but that doesn’t change the equation: walking to the fields, walking to fetch water, walking around the house and attached vegetable gardens, going outside to chat with neighbours to keep up with local news and maintain social relationships as a fundamental part of survival.
The elites also weren’t spared the obligation to survey their holdings, visit their vassals or patrons/liege, participate in visible displays of wealth, influence and leisure to maintain legitimacy…
Particularly (but not only) post-industrial literature is teeming with works on the depressing alienation in cities.
Just walking through the neighborhood on the way to work, home or to the grocery store and greeting people I meet – strangers, for all intents – helps my mood.
Humanity thrived on activity and interaction. Let’s try to keep that.
I lived in a suburban cul-de-sac for years while fighting depression. It’s seriously soul-crushing staring out at a sea of rooftops.
I still recommend walks every day though. It doesn’t matter if you have pretty views or not, you were designed to move around and walk, we are all descended from hunter-gatherers and people who walked huge distances for survival. Walking resets your current rumination session and reframes your present moment.
Part of surviving in the modern world is learning how to create your own mental states and perceptions of your environment so you don’t end up wallowing in a sense of hopelessness or feel trapped every day.
We’ve been dominantly settled farmers for millenia now, but that doesn’t change the equation: walking to the fields, walking to fetch water, walking around the house and attached vegetable gardens, going outside to chat with neighbours to keep up with local news and maintain social relationships as a fundamental part of survival.
The elites also weren’t spared the obligation to survey their holdings, visit their vassals or patrons/liege, participate in visible displays of wealth, influence and leisure to maintain legitimacy…
Particularly (but not only) post-industrial literature is teeming with works on the depressing alienation in cities.
Just walking through the neighborhood on the way to work, home or to the grocery store and greeting people I meet – strangers, for all intents – helps my mood.
Humanity thrived on activity and interaction. Let’s try to keep that.