This video really boils down to the issues endemic to an atomized lifestyle which is — surprise, surprise — expensive.

When your lifestyle requires purchasing the things you need as products or services (exercise, community, etc.), it can feel like you have no other choice but to spend money if you want to feel an ounce of serotonin every few days.

I think this is why it's so easy for Americans to glamorize and admire European lifestyles—because there seems to be a more balanced integration of the different necessary parts of a good life.

But even if this is the culturally prevalent way of life in the US, it's not a REQUIREMENT — I think @chelsea_fagan does an incredible job of highlighting lifestyle choices that are both sustainable & rewarding without swerving too far to extremes.

I wrote more here—

Preach. If you can just 1) Walk outside every single day 2) Eat normal, whole food as often as you can 3) Be social You are 90% of the way to being healthy. Almost every creature on the planet does this except us

And knowing this is 90% of the battle helped me restructure my day and habits to try to fight against the atrophy of just being an atomized unit of productivity alone in my office lol

SO much of this can be squarely blamed on car manufacturers, oil companies, and lawmakers who take their bribes (cough) I mean listen to their lobbying efforts. Unnecessary road expansions + restrictive zoning + parking requirements = sprawl, lack of community, reduction in empathy, lack of affordable housing, traffic, long commutes, no walkability, bankrupt cities, the list goes on… Crazy how a single invention has changed so much of the fabric of cities and hence so many aspects of life (and not for the better).

If you live in a place like this you can walk for most trips, see someone you know every time you leave the house, have that espresso at the cafe, and build real community while the kids play together on the sidewalk and grownups have a drink on the stoop

Italian culture values family and friends much more than American culture does. The Italian language doesn't even have a word for "privacy" because such a concept has never historically really been part of Italian culture.

Damn!!! That’s so interesting. I had no idea