How can we Thrive?

This past week we read the final chapter of "Thrive", a book written by Dan Buettner. He talked about the different places of the world and their happiness levels, and discussed what could've caused the results. This reading reminded me a lot of the passage we read from "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell. Gladwell talked about how a specific town thrived, inexpliciably, more happily than any other place in America. Buettner also looked at happiness, but he compared levels of happiness looking at the values of those places. For example, Denmark, compared to America, doesn't focus so much on materialism. Therefore, the hours a shop can be open per week are limited. I don't think that would fly in America; people want to be able to shop whenever they wish. I often hear the term, "instant gratification", and this seems like a perfect example. Another fact I found interesting was that in Denmark, the work week is limited as well. That would NEVER happen in America, because Americans place such high value on working hard. Hard work will lead to more money (value) which will lead to being able to buy more things (another value). Our language reflects this as well, with terms like "workaholic". I doubt there are many workaholics in Denmark. Limiting the work week forces people to spend time doing other things, like spending time with their friends and family, or just relaxing. In "Thrive", Buettner recommended several things that he believed, from his research, contributed to a happier life. One of these things, which I found interesting, was to take more vacations. In America, we view relaxing as lazy, but it's actually healthy.

Our values shape our society more than we realize. For example, in school, kids often stay up until 2 or 3 AM in order to finish essays and homework, when they might actually be benefitting more from the rest. I'm guilty of this as well. SHS culture has shaped kids to focus on the grades they receive, rather than actual learning, and to focus on getting their homework down rather than resting and staying healthy. It's no wonder that everyone always seems to be sick; I know some people who get about 3 or 4 hours of sleep per night. Personally, I couldn't function like that. But if you adapt to such a harsh schedule, as these students have, then it becomes the norm. We see this in America, too. People work extremely long days, several days a week, in order to achieve more. We tend to focus on the long-term goal, rather than our immediate needs, when it comes to work (not so much with materialism). It's "okay" if we pull an all-nighter, as long as we get that A. Our culture is shaped by our values of success and achievement, rather that focusing on the truly important things, like health and true happiness.