You wait to catch the Tube at 7am. You manage to squeeze yourself on to the train and are hurried along underneath the streets of London. Every carriage is packed and you feel like a sardine. The smell makes you feel physically ill because you’re not ready for it this early in the morning. Look around the Tube and you’ll nothing but sad, depressed, tired faces. The early hour explains some of these feelings but a closer look reveals dozens of people with the same, weary, almost defeated expression that suggests that they are happy merely to survive in life rather than thrive. Welcome to life in a city!
Compare this to living in the countryside where you may be awoken by the sounds of nature early in the morning. You look out the window and see a glorious sight: Blue sky with no puffs of cloud or smog. You are able to go outside and breathe deeply. Try doing that in a city and you’ll be coughing for weeks! You can either take a long walk to the store or bring your car, it’s not as if traffic jams will delay you. Planning for a journey from one rural area to another is easy. You may have to factor in the narrow country roads and being stuck behind the occasional tractor but in general, getting from A to B is easy.
We head back to the city and find that proponents of urban life point out that living in the countryside is unfulfilling and backward because rural dwellers are not exposed to the same level of technology. This is true but living in the countryside is not exactly living in the Dark Ages. There is electricity, running water and all the modern conveniences that are available in the city. The main difference is that everything is cleaner. The grass is greener, the air is sweeter and congestion is non-existent.
The same city dwellers who cannot understand how someone could live in the countryside are the same people who suffer terribly from a number of illnesses caused by the stress of city life. Research shows that people who lived in a city and stayed there for the first 15 years of their life were likely to show a greater level of activation in an area of the brain that regulates stress. The amygdala is the part of the brain that is most utilised during periods when we are stressed or anxious. It is also a medical fact that those who live in urban areas are more likely to develop mental illnesses such as schizophrenia than those who stay in rural areas.
Essentially, it seems as if you’re crazy if you live in the city! By extension, you’re crazy if you completely dismiss the thought of living in the countryside if you’ve never even tried it. Yes, it may not be for everyone but people who value their health, wish to avoid stress and can live without being in close proximity to shopping centres should choose life in the countryside. If nothing else, it will help you live longer!
