I was driving down Weddington Street last week when I saw some folks doing what I assume was this Cross Fit stuff. There was a lady jogging with a huge medicine ball resting on her shoulder, holding it in place with her left hand. There was a guy jogging in the opposite direction doing the same thing, both just pouring sweat. The street was crowded with kids going to and from school, people walking their dogs, homeless folks. I started thinking about all those National Geographic magazines and documentaries you see about tribes in Africa and South America. Those ladies with the huge buckets of water on their heads, plus their baby tied to their backs, plus they’re washing clothes in the river. The men are out in the forests without shoes, nothing but some kind of loincloth covering their goods and a spear they sharpened out of wood. Knowing they must come back with some huge dead animal or their families and their entire tribes will not eat.
Hunters and Gatherers is what we are – survivalists, right? Restaurants, grocery stores, farmers markets, butcher shops, food is no longer a luxury. We pay for gym memberships and personal trainers to keep in shape, we fight the urge to sit on our assholes watching tv or on our computers or playing video games. We pay people to show us how to bend, push, pull and carry our bodies with added weights. Rock climbing, marathons, skiing, kayaking, and camping. We crave movement, challenging our bodies the way our jobs and daily activities no longer require. Resembling the actions our bodies were originally made for when we did such things as hunting and gathering.
Our jobs aren’t about surviving anymore or at least not the same way as the tribesmen. We sit, we stand, repetitive motions, we talk, we send emails, we answer the phone. Our brains are stretched and broadened every day, we are balancing the physical and mental aspects of our careers regularly. There is something in our brains as human beings that tells us periodically we need a break, a “vacation”. The afternoon off of work, the whole day, the weekend. We call in sick, we take mental health days, we plan a week long trip to Cabo in June. We need it, we need to look forward to it, we need to have time free from our regular demands. I remember as a kid my mom would sing this song she wrote titled “I don’t have to work tomorrow!” We thought it was hilarious, she would just repeat those words over and over in a rhythmic form every time she had the day off. My mom worked like a dog. I didn’t know then the tune she was singing but I’ll tell you today I catch myself singing along to it often.
I really enjoy what I do, I have a very easy schedule, I work in a great environment, I love my clients enjoy my co workers but I still look forward to that day off. Watch that clock on the wall waiting for 6pm when I can be “free”. Maybe it’s some innate thing instilled in us, that leftover “Get me the fuck outta here” from high school. We’ve evolved past our natural instincts, we’ve adapted to our new environments, careers, families and technologies. As a race, we are expanding and growing constantly. We vacation in the tropics sitting outside away from our phones cut off from the world, our jobs, no schedule, just quiet. We relieve stress at the gym lifting, pushing and pulling, on a treadmill running to emulate our bodies natural need for movement. We’ve evolved.
