“You don’t choose Your Lifestyle even if You want too, it’s often that Your Life chooses Lifestyle for You”
As
“Every Person wants to live a healthy lifestyle, wants to enjoy & flourish but it depends upon several factors which are often way beyond his control.”
If given an opportunity every person wants to make the most of his life, wants to enjoy, wants to flourish and be happy. However it is often not under his control what kind of lifestyle he will choose , as that is determined by various factors which are way beyond his or her control.
The factors which determine are often attached with destiny. The place where you will be born, the financial position of the family in which you are born, the nationality , the luck & destiny which helps in his endeavours to improve his lifestyle & to escape the stressful meaningless life. Certainly nobody in this world has the power to choose where he will be born and what kind of nationality he will hold at the time of birth.
For example, people who are living in European countries often enjoy a much better standard of living. They are living in a much cleaner environment, having much better labour laws , and governments which duly protect their dignity & standard of living. Definitely standard of living is not concerned with only the financial aspect but it is much more about the quality of life. If you see the happiness index Finland is generally at the top always and if you see and compare it with a developing country in Asia or Africa there the question of happiness index doesn’t even arise because the struggle for them is much more bigger their struggle is for survival. There are many people in this world whose main aim is to somehow earn an everyday meal. And in order to earn that they have to work very hard for extremely long hours in terrible working conditions and get a very low salary or wages.
Hence this proves the point that the quality of life depends upon factors which are way beyond their control.
Indeed nobody wants to have a toxic work environment, all want to enjoy their personal lives along with the work.
However we very well know how much of this is under our control.
For example, a person working in a private job in an office in metro cities like Mumbai has to spend long hours travelling & long hours in work. Generally in cities like Mumbai to purchase or rent home in the main city is very expensive and hence most of the people are forced to live far from the main city and travel for 1 to 2 hours just to reach their work & just expecting that they don’t get late as ether the office will have late mark system or to get scolded by boss. If this is the level of stress a person is facing then imagine the kind of happiness he is living in. The only working holiday is often on only one day in a week, which is Sunday, there are few festival holidays if you are lucky enough, otherwise some work places don’t even have those holidays.
Now just imagine a person has only one day holiday in a week, that is Sunday and before the person could realise the day is over and by the night he already has a stress of reaching the next day early in the morning to his work place. These are really devastating working conditions and there’s no hope for improvement.
The only way that the intervention and improvement from this situation is possible is if the parliament enacts stringent laws against labour abuse & the government executes the law on the ground.
Now this is the level of lifestyle that an average person working in an office in a metro city faces. Now to make the matter worse , imagine a person who is working in a shop whose duty hours are generally at least 12 hours. Then combine it with 1 to 2 hours of travelling with the only holiday of once in a week , where that person gets time to spend with the family or for his personal relaxation & enjoyment. But there is nobody in this world who is bothered to ponder a thought about it and forget about doing something for them.
Sharp Contrast Between Lifestyle Depending Upon the Place where You are Born
In the discussion above in the introduction paragraph we saw there is a sharp contrast between lifestyles of those who are living in developed countries like Europe and those who are living in developing countries.
Some people often blame poverty and population for the low standard of living in underdeveloped regions of the world. However, the fact of the matter is that it is well within the power of the parliament and the executive of the state to improve the working conditions of their people.
Lifestyle in Rural Regions of the World Compared to Urban Regions of The World
Lifestyle in Rural Areas
Even in underdeveloped countries, those who are living a rural lifestyle are enjoying a much better life compared to those who are living in the urban areas. However, because of lack of earning opportunity or dream of having a better lifestyle they often migrate to metro cities and after migration they realise their lives have become toxic & meaningless.
So lifestyle has a lot to do with Urban & Rural areas.
Rural areas of all countries offer a beautiful lifestyle. Something which gives peace of mind, relaxation & enjoyment.
Urban Areas
Life in urban Areas of Developed Countries with stringent labour laws are much better in regards to offering a good lifestyle. As compared to urban areas of underdeveloped countries. As we have already discussed the sharp contrast between them we don’t need to discuss it further.
Ideal Lifestyle?
Now what will be the ideal lifestyle depends on the person. However, nobody would deny life with less working hours , less timings in travelling for work, peaceful work environment, and frequent holidays are a must for a healthy lifestyle.
Natural Surroundings
The lifestyle must be close to natural surroundings , considering this is the age of the internet there should be internet connection to communicate with the rest of the world however when you are in natural surroundings apart from spending a few hours you may hardly feel the need of social media except for communicating with your loved ones.
Less working Hours
Working hours should be less generally. We see 9-10 hours of jobs have become a normalcy which is highly unfortunate. As per The International Labour Organisation it was brought down to 8 hours of work daily but since past few decades slowly employers are increasing working hours.
It is the job of the government to intervene & protect the people and parliament to enact stringent laws to protect the working class.
Last year we have seen statement from some of the corporate giants in which they have stated that if it is possible for them then they will even call employees to come on Sunday and what will they be doing by sitting at home by looking at face of each others spouse. Such kind of shameful statements are made by corporate giants & the most unfortunate part is government is silent. Such statements not only came from Indian corporate world but also USA corporate giants. Elon Musk made a similar statement of 12 hours of work. So the statements by Narayan Murti or Elon Musk aren’t just plain statements but it shows their desire. and it’s not only about them but overall there are clear cut signs that the world is again going into labour exploitation age.
5 days working
There should be 2 days off in a week which should be given together. The reason is 6 days working gets really tiring & there’s no place for personal life, spending quality time with family etc.
You can easily see the difference in the level of happiness & energy of an employee of 5 days working & 6 days working.
Quality & not the Quantity
Corporates & non corporate employers need to realise difference between Quantity & Quality. By forcing people to work 6 days a week they are getting quantity but not quality. Secondly they are also hampering quality of life of their employees.
Quality of Life of Employee & quality of Work
There’s a direct relationship between the quality of life of an employee & quality of his work. With less working hours 5 days a working employee is much more relaxed & highly energetic to work as compared to those working for 6 days in a week.
Work from home
Work from home is yet another solid way of improving lifestyle. There are many occasions on which work can be done from home. It even saves unnecessary office expenses on electricity for that day & employee is much more energetic because he saved time in travelling for work.
Lifestyle based on Occupation:-
Another important factor which determines the lifestyle of a person is the occupation. What kind of work you will do determines what kind of lifestyle you will choose. Like a farmer has to spend his day in the field, in my view that is a beautiful lifestyle because that is very close to nature. Other occupations like Police, Politicians, Doctors , Engineers etc all have a specific kind of lifestyle attached to it. All occupations have a particular kind of impact on the lifestyle we live.
Rural Lifestyle
In my opinion, a lifestyle which is rural is the best lifestyle. Because it is close to nature, no matter what kind of work you are doing in rural areas it is very peaceful and soothing to the heart.
Need for Robust Labour Laws & it’s Implementation
One of the most important factors is that the labour law should be robust and there should be strict enforcement of the laws.
There are many private jobs in which the employer makes people work beyond 8 hours & this is really unfortunate.
The Parliament needs to encompass various hardships that are affecting quality of life. Ultimately all people have family they have feelings emotions they need to spend time with family need time to relax & for recreational activities.
Quality of Life : is It luxury or Something else?
People often confuse quality of Life with having a lot of money & luxurious lifestyle. However that’s far from the fact the fact is if you have lot of money but you are always under lot of stress, not able to spend time with your loved ones then there’s no use of such money.
Quality of life is when you have peace at heart, you are enjoying your life , able to have time to relax spend time for recreational activities etc.
Conclusion
In this essay we have discussed Lifestyle, and what are the factors that impact lifestyle. We also discussed what may be ideal Lifestyle and urban & rural Lifestyle. Also the impact of occupation on lifestyle.
Lifestyle has a direct connection with the quality of life we live. We all deserve a good quality of life, quality of life is not concerned only with having a lot of luxury items but having quality of life. Spending time with family, recreational activities are all important aspects of an ideal lifestyle.
Ultimately whatever lifestyle we choose we should have peace at heart we should enjoy our lifestyle.
By: AMIT LAXMICHAND GALA
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