Zoo Animals

As usual I arrived at my office very early in the morning and prepared for my desk job just like I have done for the past thirty years. I sat in my desk chair and turned on my computer and drank a cup of coffee while I logged in and waited for the computer to boot up.

I began to wonder how much harm this routine has done to both my mental and physical state. I have written quite a bit about problems I see in our modern lifestyle and how they harm our environment and how we routinely exploit human beings without really giving it much more thought. But I haven’t written much about the effect this modern lifestyle has on our physical well-being.

While I am in good shape for a person in their mid-fifties I constantly struggle with back and neck pain. I visit a chiropractor and massage therapist on a regular basis dealing with the pain I am constantly in and have been informed I slouch, crane my neck forward, and now have a mild case of scoliosis. I am doing my best to work on posture, on breathing techniques, and work out four to five times per week with an emphasis on stretching my back and core, but the improvement seems to be minimal.

I have played competitive golf for much of the past forty years and used to feel this was the cause for my back problems, but am coming to believe that the main problem is my corporate job which keeps me caged up and unable to do the activities that God designed us for. We were designed as “hunters and gatherers” and meant to be outside walking, lifting, and a host of other activities. We were not meant to be stuck in an office sitting in a chair, hunched over, staring at a computer screen, and typing on a key board ten hours a day.

My question is “How much have we really progressed” with all the modern technologies and conveniences that we have invented over the past hundred years? I am beginning to see the down side to the “progress” we have made and the detrimental effect it has on our well-being and happiness. I long for getting my hands dirty each day, building and growing things, and solving problems that get my mind and body to react like God intended us to do. I hope I can hold out for just a few more years so I can walk away from this madness on my terms without too much more harm being done.