Is the busy modern lifestyle suitable for all? Can people still work 9 to 5 every day and come home to a happy family to enjoy their company without too many disturbances from the electronic devices? Can a person live physically and mentally healthy, getting enough sleep, toxin-free food, drinking unpolluted clean water, and breathing in the fresh air in a posh city? It is possible if you prioritize your needs and make some alterations to your lifestyle.

What is the Modern Lifestyle?

A good education, a decent corporate job, a posh apartment, a compact family, meditation with prayer beads in hand – these are the basic images that come to mind when we hear the word modern lifestyle. Society defines this standard to live happily for every person. People who do not possess these things get looked down as a loser.

Modern lifestyle enables a person to go on luxurious trips abroad and enjoy the pleasures our past generations never even knew existed. They get to start their own business by the time they are forty and have clear plans to enjoy a peaceful retirement, enough savings, and good medical insurance.

It is a dream life for everybody where happy faces filled with smiles pose from lovely apartments and cruise vacations, posting pictures on social media. What more can you expect?

Ironies of the Modern Lifestyle

Seventy-hour work weeks with stressful traveling in the traffic, unscrupulous deadlines, and no job satisfaction whatsoever, children talking two sentences to parents in a day with their concentration on the mobile – the quirkiness of the modern lifestyle are endless.

The modern lifestyle is far from simple as it makes us work without rest and satisfaction. We forego everything we love to fulfill society’s definition of a good life and status. Every person is like an hour hand of a clock, moving endlessly, racing with the time only to start the same tiring routine again.

Never have enough time to eat, have a leisure bath, never a free moment to read a book peacefully, and you have to pay for literally everything from water to every single service you get. The accumulating bills, EMI’s and fight to maintain the credit score, breakups, suicides, poor mental health, sleeplessness – the problems always outweigh the comfort of a modern lifestyle, whether you are at home, coworking space, or at an office.

Is it Really a Necessity of Time?

Is it essential to run so hard to stay where we are and rush with the maddening competition to survive?

Or is it all an illusion we have fallen prey to and can come out easily?

The second answer seems to be genuine, as we all want it to be. Exploring the education, work, life cycle of most of us, we tend to work so hard to be happy and end up being utterly unhappy ?!

The demand for a chic, contemporary lifestyle is endless. It would help if you kept the consumerism wheel running with your earnings to manage your work and life. We forget to realize simplicity is the essence of living a content life.

We put up with too much rain and thunder to keep the rainbow in our life; forgetting sunshine and a clear sky without a rainbow is also necessary to survive.

How to Escape the Trap?

Understand, you control your life, and nothing is a necessity of time. You cannot move to a rural area tomorrow and do terrace farming to eat. You will likely catch malaria by the swarm of mosquitoes dwelling there.

Several people enjoy urban life happily with lots of money and enjoy a peaceful and healthy lifestyle. Anything exceeding a specific limit becomes poisonous, from water in our body to money and too much desire in life. Stop comparing yourself with others and live life absolutely on your terms, in a way it is comfortable for you as it is your right to do so.

Modern lifestyle or yogic lifestyle, the essence is to know you get to live only once and spend it wisely on things that enrich your mind, make your body strong and create meaningful connections with others.

The purpose of every life, according to Buddha, is to attain enlightenment and enjoy serene happiness. You can start by enjoying the best of both worlds by practicing gratefulness for what you have, no matter what, and stay contented.

Best of Both Worlds

You can enjoy the best of both worlds if you learn how to adjust your needs according to your income rather than trying to earn more for a better life. Cut down on your working hours to spend more time with your family and indulge in self-care.

If you start feeling your life is getting out of control, take a step back, analyze and implement measures to slow down, and start enjoying what really matters from this very moment.

Spending fifteen minutes with your child without a mobile and connecting with them is better than spending two hours more every day to get another promotion or please your boss more.

Don’t buy too many things, and work hard to pay for them. Live happily with what you have, and enjoy a romantic walk with your spouse on a lonely night under the stars.

Feel thankful for the moments you spend with your parents and the time you get to explore fresh products in a farmer’s market.

Cut down on your addiction and dependency on electronic items and try to observe the physical world now and then.

Yes, it will be hard to pay the bills, and the bank might seize the car, and you might have to move to a simple apartment. Live the life you want without worrying whether others will respect you.

Conclusion

The modern lifestyle can be overwhelming at times, driving you insane with its endless demands. But understand you chose to endure it and try not to overwork yourself. After all, you learn, earn and work only to enjoy. There is no point in sacrificing everything you like just for the sake of survival and keep running to fulfill the societal expectations like a robot.