Becoming Sedentary

It scares the shit out of me, but I've been increasingly sedentary during this school term. Looking at the lives of most people, we aren't actually encouraged to move very much. Any movements in our day to day lives stem from necessity rather than any type of desire. We go to the store because we need something, for example. For the majority of the population, the most travelling they do is to and from work. This is a horrible situation to be in. There are so many sights to experience out there, and we have the honour of inhabiting such a naturally diverse and beautiful planet, but we don't get to see more than a minuscule fraction of it out of choice. Instead, we live sheltered indoors, never really using many of our senses to their full potential, and instead seeking routine and comfort. Society does not encourage us to explore or be curious about our surroundings and those who do are often even discouraged from doing so. If you become too curious in an urban setting, you are bound to be asked by someone what you are up to. By stepping out of the routine and being slightly unpredictable, you have become a threat.

The trips that we are encouraged to take actually are really irrelevant to geography, but are rather related to climate and certain features we look for such as beaches. We are encouraged, for those who have the luxury, to take time off from the tedious and stressful environment of the city and job that we are trapped in, to take an expensive trip to a resort destination. We are not in the least bit interested in how we get there, and the plane, while extremely efficient, essentially removes all aspects of geography and progression. We are not interested in those who live in these destinations and how they view the world. We are not interested in exploring this new territory. We are not interested in attempting to understand the location or truly experience it. Rather, we are teleported into another world, and make this our home for the short period that we are there. We have a complete disregard for anything surrounding us because we paid to have this fucking nice backdrop, so we couldn't be bothered. Through a quick change of environment, we hope that it will have meditative benefits and that we can simply forget all other sources of stress for a little while.

The truth as I see it is that we in fact belong outdoors. It is in our primal nature to explore our environment and to attempt to understand it. We have a certain type of bond with geography that is difficult to pinpoint, but we have admittedly done a good job at suppressing in order to be able to conform to the 9-5 life. One of the ways that many of these problems could be solved would be through exploration. In fact, by driving to a destination instead of flying, the slower sense of speed allows us to savour locations instead of taking them for granted. In the end, I believe that the final destination is considerably more rewarding because the transition to it has been gradual. It really is a shame that we are almost not permitted to explore, as we are meant to. There has to be a true purpose to everything. I say that purpose is human nature. Why should we explore? Because we are naturally curious beings and have ultimately suppressed this facet. There is so much to see and experience that you often cannot fully be "whole" if you limit yourself to knowing a 100km square radius (and only a fraction of that, at most). Looking around me, most of the people I know have a good knowledge of the few streets around them, around their work or school, and routes to common major destinations. But why bother with anything else? We're so fucking stupid and naive.