10/5/19

Skittles: thinking about loneliness as a hunger

I think millennials are largely impoverished because we lack what we need to thrive. We're not cooking. We either don't have the time to cook healthy meals or don't have the money. We work too much or not enough to cook. Our water is full of toxins. In the US most of our major cities pipes are lead. Very old lead pipes that are poisoning us all. They did a study drinking water in Chicago public schools and found that it had high levels of lead in them. The water is not safe but wine is. Millennials are drinking less because alcohol but are still in danger of alcoholism. We drink a lot, socially. We also drink a lot of coffee. We need the caffeine to stay awake because we're over worked and/or depressed. On top of all of that we don't have meaningful fulfilling relationships. I'm not talking just romantic relationship. We need healthy, serious, long-term platonic relationships too. These platonic relationships need a level of physical non sexual intimacy. If we aren't eating healthy, our water is dangerous, we have alcohol or caffeine addictions, and we're lonely as hell. I don't think anyone is thriving in those conditions. This is an  inferior quality of life which constitutes being impoverished.

How come when we're hungry for food nobody says maybe you should sit with the feeling until you are okay with starving. But when you're hungry for companionship you have to one how to be alone first. Loneliness is as much of a hunger as thirst and sleepiness. Humans are social creatures and in this age of isolation the need for connection is as necessary as eating and drinking clean water. However, getting that connection is becoming as hard as eating healthy and drinking clean water. We are all hooking up to feel something just like we're eating fast food just to eat. We use GrubHub, Seamless, Door Dash, Tindr, Bumble, and Match all to fill a hunger.

We are more understanding of unhealthy eating habits and we treat the underlying cause. We don't want people starving themselves or binge eating. We generally don't excuse excessive drinking either (of any beverage not just alcohol). Just like people develop unhealthy hunger or thirst we also develop unhealthy loneliness. But unless it gets extreme we don't really do anything about it. If it's not an abusive relationship we don't really try to fix it. Our hook-up culture is already extreme. It's a shows a we have epidemic of loneliness. It's unhealthy but we aren't trying to fix it. We have such a focus on romantic relationships we forget that it's important to have friends too. We have friends but only virtually. That's extreme. It's all unhealthy and we should be working to be better.

We are all trying to be so independent and not need anyone. We don't want to get hurt and don't want to be dependent. It's almost like if we want any kind of consistent connection with someone that makes us vulnerable. We don't want someone to have that power. But we are suppose to be connected. We can not survive completely isolated. We are coping by having plants and pets but it's not the same. We should get hugs everyday. We should hold hands. We should have an abundance of meaningful touch through out the day.We have so much technology that allows us to be so connected we forget the importance of physical connection. Snuggling, cuddling, locking arms, rubbing someone's back, resting on someone's lap, any innocent touch.

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