Balancing doing and being
Why the longevity revolution could be a catalyst for us to slow down and enjoy life – all of life.
As human beings, we have evolved a stress-response system that is based on a balance between doing and being. For far too long we thought that we could get away with incessantly doing stuff during the first part of our lives and saving the being till retirement. It is obvious that it isn´t working out for us – neither for the young, the middle-aged nor the older. The extra years we have been given could motivate us to finally slow down during the first part of our lives and be able to enjoy our extended lives to the fullest.
The world is currently experiencing one of the most profound transformations of what it means to be a human being. For the first time in life´s history, if you are born in Europe today, you can expect to live into your mid-seventies (for men) to early eighties (for women)[i] As of 2050, it may be the norm for newborns to look forward to 100 years of living.[ii]A report by United Nations released in 2019 predicts that by 2050, 1 in 6 people in the world will be over the age 65 whereas in 2019 it was only 1 in 11[iii]. This transformation is mostly seen as a challenge to society and the question on everybody’s mind is how we are going to sustain our healthcare- and welfare systems. However, the longer lives are also an opportunity for us to re-evaluate how we organise and live our lives. Not just during the extra 30 years we have been given, but the ones that leads up to them.
There is no doubt that our current way of living is far from good for our health with stress and burnout causing serious mental and physical health issues. The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified stress as the health epidemic of the 21st century[iv] and the term “burnout” referring to workplace stress left unmanaged was identified as an occupational phenomenon in 2019[v]. A Gallup study of nearly 7,500 full-time employees found that 23% of employees reported feeling burned out at work very often or always[vi]. This highly capitalistic and competitive lifestyle is making us ill. So, why the rush? Why do we need to reach the corporate ladder at the age of 30? Since we are living 30 years longer, surely, we can afford to slow down a little.
It is about time we challenging the outdated model of a three-stage life in which we first learn, then earn and finally retire. This one-size-fits-all life arrangement is neither financially sustainable if we live longer, nor beneficial to our health and well-being. Instead, each one of us must find our own path which mixes those up in new ways, and which allows us to achieve and earn according to our capabilities and life-situation, while at the same time find time for pause and rest. Learning is something we do throughout life, not just when we are young with the intention to achieve an attractive job, salary, and status but as a way to live thriving lives where learning is a way to inspire and motivate us for pursuing (new) areas of interest and connect with (new) interesting people. This way we can avoid burning out in the first part of our lives, and we are able to continue contributing and find purpose beyond what is currently labelled “retirement”. By balancing achieving, resting and learning we can also ensure that we are cherishing and savoring life as we go and get to spend time with our loves ones when they are around.
A new slower and more balanced life requires a complete shift of our mind. The current young become the future old and the mindset and habits are therefore something we need to cultivate at early age. Unfortunately, it is a matter of urgency, as right now our youth is heading in the opposite direction. At the moment, young adults are suffering just as much from stress as their parents, if not more. WHO estimated that globally 1 in 7 (14%) 10-19 year-olds experience mental health conditions[vii]. An online UK stress survey found that six out of ten young people aged 18–24 have felt so stressed by the pressure to succeed they have felt unable to cope[viii]. That is 60%!
My daughter is currently in her last year of high school. She, her friends, and their parents are in a rush to decide where and when to apply for college before the deadlines. Again, what is the rush, I ask? If there ever was a time to slow down, it would be when you are deciding on your future career. We all know that rushed decisions runs the risk of being rubbish decisions. Wise decisions requires time to see, think, and feel – especially for 18-year-old minds. I am therefore strongly encouraging my daughter to take a gap-year to get to know herself and to put herself in situations where we can find her strength and what it is that makes her heart sing. She is part of a generation that is going to make profound decisions on how to cope with the changing demographics as well as how to heal the planet and the people on it. I would prefer if those decisions were not rushed. Most likely, she and her peers are going to live beyond 80. There is plenty of time for them to make their contributions and continue to do so at an age where their parents were retired. It is our responsibility to help them learn from our mistakes. Let´s take some time to teach them. Or rather - since we are obviously not the best rolemodels - give them some time to figure it out.
[i] Fanny Janssen, Anastasios Bardoutsos, Shady El Gewily, Joop De Beer (2021) Future life expectancy in Europe taking into account the impact of smoking, obesity, and alcohol eLife 10:e66590
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.66590
[ii] https://longevity.stanford.edu/the-new-map-of-life-report/
[iii]https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/ageing/WorldPopulationAgeing2019-Highlights.pdf
[iv] Stress: The Health Epidemic of the 21st Century. SciTech Connect. 2016. [Last accessed on 2017 May 27]. Available from: http://scitechconnect.elsevier.com/stress-health-epidemic-21st-century/ [Ref list]
[v] https://www.who.int/news/item/28-05-2019-burn-out-an-occupational-phenomenon-international-classification-of-diseases
[vi] https://www.gallup.com/workplace/237377/millennials-burning.aspx
[vii] https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-mental-health
[viii] https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/about-us/news/60-young-people-unable-cope-due-pressure-succeed