In Madrid, during the longest hours of the blackout, Andrés had a “rare” sensation similar to that of the pandemic, as of the world arrested, of much slower time, of silence. In Malaga and without radio at home, Matías thought it was something local and began to water the plants. They were two hours of absolute inner peace. In Ciudad Real, if data or portable, Alex sat with his dog to enjoy the breeze that entered the window.
And it was not the outside world. It could not be: in the houses there was the same usual noise, the streets were more full than normal, the universe continued to turn. What was happening?
Peace in a world in ruins. Because that is the first thing that comes to mind: the paradox that in seemingly negative (or even tragic) situations such as blackouts, The pandemics Or external events of this type, people experience a rare sensation of peace, liberation or decompression. However, psychologists, sociologists and anthropologists make it clear that the paradox is only apparent.
Actually, we are so accustomed to living in lives full of labor commitments, studies, social activities; lives immersed in a constant information flow … that such an event disrupts us deeply. Or, rather, it destabilizes us: as experts in behavioral activation therapies tell us, our day’s activities are as emotional anchors. Without them, we are much more susceptible to external incidents; whether positive or negative.
The surprise, of course, is that they are sometimes positive. We could study it with great detail during the pandemic. For example, a group of researchers from the University of Cambridge They discovered that one in three young people had felt happier during the confinements. But he did not reduce them: it’s something, in fact, We find surprising frequency.
But … why? It has theorized a lot about why (less social and academic stress: less loneliness, absence of bullying, more hours of sleep or more physical exercise during confinement …), but they all end up in the same place. To the elimination of the aversive elements of everyday life and the increase in pleasant activities, something else adds: the absence of responsibility.
That is the key piece that allows to accept inactivity with less resistance. It is not free that among the health, for example, this type of phenomena were less frequent during pandemic (even when they were sick). The feeling of guilt or responsibility did not disappear and, in fact, it became a problem.
What leads us to a question … What if the problematic is normal? In 1922, Dorothy Thomas realized a very curious detail: Unlike what we might think, mortality seemed to follow a “procyclical” pattern. That is, as the economy goes better, more people die. It is so. It is something we have seen one and again: The last great Spanish crisis is a good example.
The evidence is solid: economic growth has as a direct consequence that people die more. As explained in the Silesia collective“There is something in the political-economic system of capital circulation and goods that, when accelerating, destroys the health of populations.” We do not usually repair them (because the benefits are high and because economic crises are not “good for health”) but it is so.
Can something similar happen to mental health? It is a plausible hypothesis. As we explained a few weeks ago, ‘tiredness’ has become something ubiquitous in our societies. Practically half of the working population or they feel high levels of stress or have suffered burnout.
We have built some social environments where a hyperproductivity centered lifestyle prevails (Toxic productivity), multitasking and permanent overload; where “feel the pressure of being productive at every moment of the day – always a list of slopes and guilt for not fulfilling it -” has become the new normality. And in a source anxiety, insomnia and extreme exhaustion.
Losing all that can be a way to recover everything else. In fact, what they have demonstrated again these twelve hours of darkness is that, For many people, it is. But it also demonstrates the difficulty we have to ‘take control’ of our own life imbued as we are in increasingly complex socio-economic systems: only a historical event seems to give ourselves to recover it.
Image | Own elaboration
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