I have a theory on what got Americans to where we are now. I think obsessive behavior became what we know of it today because more and more people had to do something to cope with how they had to live. For them, coping was understanding how to get through the duration of whatever they faced either locally, culturally, societally or nationally, maybe even globally. I think some people were unhappy with not being allowed to be creative or inventive. To deal with it, they over ate, cleaned too much, shopped therapeutically -I call it depression shopping, hoarded, felt anger and didn't know where to direct it, we have trichotilomania, add, adhd...I wonder if some cases of autism are a genetic mutation from overworked or somehow overburdened people having children. I think some people were lost within their obsession and they forgot why they started it and they don't remember what they truly enjoyed doing.
I think this started decades upon decades ago. We also had a time of prosperity and some people may have thought we will never go through hard times again. If not as a nation then they may have thought they personally would not have to deal with hard times. If anything stressful arose, they did what they could to ignore it or stifle it. Unfortunately, change can't be stifled.
Many countries are fighting their being stifled. I hope they don't find that luxury is the only way to get through life. They might know it isn't, but to be stifled for so long and deprived of basic needs, it might be easy to hurry out of the situation and not look at anything else that needs to be done. Discomfort shows in many ways. Now is a great time to learn how to cope with hardships and to teach others what might work for them. Might being the operative. I think one coping skill became saying "This is how to do it, it is the only thing that will work, if you don't listen to me then you don't respect me and if you don't take my advise then you are just too stupid for me to be nice to you ever again." I grew up knowing people with this mentality, but I didn't let it get to me. I saw it as stress so I understood why their encounters usually went wrong, but they didn't see it. They saw the world being terrible to them and why can't they just have a nice day or a nice time.
I think we put the wrong definition to addiction. Addiction conjures the image of an alcoholic or a drug addict, but addiction can be any coping skill used in excess that keeps us from learning from life. I disagree with there being addictive behaviors, people with so called addictive behaviors often spend time doing one or two things, so they don't realize all of what is out there. They learn not to be able to associate their lives with any other way of life and they can't think empathetically any more, until they are forced out of their world. I think addictions arise when everything around someone is falling apart, I don't think it actually has to be falling apart, but what they feel is happening is the truth for them. I propose that we "relapse" when we don't see any more progress around us or within us so we go to the only way we personally know how to cope. We need to redefine programs designed to help people stop an obsessive coping behavior and learn what to do when people are "done" with the program. No one is ever done. Until we die we need to be reminded of things that might seem simple to remember to others.
In everything we've done obsessive or not, we were searching for answers. We were sidetracked in being confused at behaviors appearing weird and happening more and more and more. In those behaviors, we found something to focus offering help for. If we couldn't directly help, we turned to scientific solutions. Then we relied on science to give us answers. Now we hopefully see that everything can work in one way or another, but maybe we don't need to focus nationally on any one topic.
I have a feeling that this time, this age, this era, will change how presidents work. Why can a president enact a law for the next president to undo it? Why not test it out a little longer, giving more people time to stop looking at it negatively, instead looking at it objectively or even to welcome it and then see what we have learned from it. Form a committee if need be. I don't agree with how we are using committees right now. Maybe I would see them as useful if their findings were actually taken into account now rather than looked at later for us to ask why we didn't listen. The mess within the political system and structure has people trying to cope, but many people are done with finding a way to be okay with how the country is working since it isn't working.
Now I think we moved to fearing what others will think of us and how can we protect our image as a person, as a family and as a country. People feel like everything they view as negative is an attack on their personal character, when they might be the only one to view it negatively.
Lately I have seen a LOT of potential with people trying different ways to create a better scenario now and for the future. People are thinking with the future in mind instead of right now and how we can be instantly gratified. I love seeing people working together. I'm doing my little part by being friends with anyone. I'm working to bring people together, too. I don't have much energy to work with so I decided to use my condition as a way to bring people together. To show others that money isn't what is important in helping people. Friendship and conversation can work wonders in helping a person feel happy. When we are happy we can work on good solutions as we can see a larger picture. When we are unhappy, either angry or depressed or what have you, we can only focus on fixing one thing.
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