Hello, Adversity Weekly Roundup #10 - April 8, 2023
Hello, Adversity Weekly Roundup #10 - April 8, 2023
Loneliness in America, the joys of taking it slow, impulse control, and unlocking the Enchiridion
Hi everyone! Welcome to the tenth edition of the Hello, Adversity Weekly Roundup. I can’t believe this is already week ten. It feels like I just started this site yesterday.
I am so grateful for the opportunity to show up in your inbox every Saturday morning. I take this privilege seriously and always strive to share content that is meaningful, thought-provoking and entertaining.
I’d love to know what you think of this roundup newsletter so far. Does the content resonate? Is there anything you want to see more of? (Or less?) Feel free to respond to this email or let me know in the comments.
Without further ado, here are this week’s links:
Gallup published the results of a recent survey indicating that rates of loneliness in the United States have declined off of pandemic highs. 17% of Americans reported feeling lonely “a lot of the day yesterday”, which is down from a high of 25% in March 2021. Although it is encouraging that this rate is declining overall, 17% still represents 44 million Americans.
The article goes on to analyze the data across different age, geographic and socioeconomic categories. New Englanders tend to be the most lonely, as are those who are younger, living in cities, and who have lower income.
These survey results make sense - the pandemic canceled social gatherings and many people lost their jobs. Society shut down overnight, which enhanced isolation and loneliness. However, a striking takeaway from the survey is the tangible mental health impacts of loneliness. Those who are lonely are much more likely to report feeling sad, depressed and angry. They are also more likely to feel like they are suffering rather than thriving.
This paragraph was sobering:
Experiencing significant loneliness is entangled in a larger global issue of mental health and emotional well-being. Recent Gallup research estimates that over 300 million people globally don’t have a single friend, and one in five don’t have friends or family that they can count on when needed.
Humans are social creatures. Some alone time is beneficial; perpetual loneliness is not. This is something I have struggled with these last few years as my ability to travel has diminished. Although not a perfect substitute for in-person interaction, I have found that keeping in touch with friends by phone or text and finding supportive online communities (such as Substack) do help. I am also lucky to have a great family, which keeps me from feeling too isolated.
As an introvert, I never thought I’d say this, but there is nothing quite like in-person interaction!
This was a beautifully-written piece about the hidden joys of long walking trips. The author, Neil King, Jr., has completed several multi-day walking excursions over the years and has been transformed by the observations and interactions each journey has provided. He notices subtle details in nature and meets people he never would have met if he were driving past them in a car. The pace of life is slower and more deliberate.
Even though it is a bit ironic to recommend this article considering I am no longer able to walk, the takeaways are applicable whether one is walking, rolling, or riding. (As long as your method of transportation is slower than a car.)
Several vivid passages in the article made the scenery come alive. I especially like this one:
Driving is at least 20 times faster than walking, but you realize after a few days that walking is a hundred times more meaningful. A long walk in the Grand Canyon becomes a lesson, step by step, in the power that water has over rock. Days wandering through Amish country in Pennsylvania leave you wise to the subtle variations in house or buggy design among the many sects there. You can stand for an hour on an English path trying to figure out how that herringbone wall was built.
Many notable people throughout history have incorporated long strolls into their daily routines. Time spent in nature is a tonic for the soul.
This video is a small snippet of an interview from the Knowledge Project podcast with Dr. Andrew Huberman, a Stanford neuroscientist.
In this clip, Dr. Huberman discusses how we can retrain our minds to better control our impulses. According to Huberman, our minds are always in “go” mode, ready to act and do things, often without conscious awareness. This is how we fall into bad behaviors such as checking our phones constantly. These bad behaviors lead us down rabbit holes, stress us out, and make us feel like we are spiraling out of control.
Huberman advocates trying to balance these automatic “go” behaviors with “no-go” behaviors. In other words, 20 to 30 times per day, we should actively say “no” to doing something. The next time we catch ourselves reaching for our phone, we can stop that action in its place and say “no”. When we want to get up from our desks to grab a cup of coffee instead of finishing an email, we can resolve to get up only after hitting “send”. It is a matter of will and discipline, but it doesn’t have to be scary. It just requires conscious awareness that we are veering off-course before we perform the mindless action.
Over time, we will be better able to stop impulses before they take over as this “no-go” behavior becomes a habit. It may not be a cure-all, but it can help to restore a sense of balance.
If you would like to watch the full episode, you can view it here. It is also available in podcast form wherever you listen to podcasts.
Book finished: Enchiridion, by Epictetus
Epictetus was a famous Greek philosopher who endured significant hardship in his life. He is one of the most well-known of the Stoic philosophers and influenced many future Stoics, including the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius (author of Meditations).
Enchiridion (which roughly translates to “Handbook” or “Manual”) is a short collection of Epictetus’ precepts on how to live a moral life, one that is rooted in practicality, philosophy and reason.
I really enjoyed Enchiridion. However, it is not an easy book to read, even though it is a little more than 30 pages. Many different translations are available, although most of them are old. Depending on which translation you choose, there may be a decent amount of work involved in trying to decipher what is being said.
I bought the George Long translation, which is in 19th-century English. At first, many of the passages left me stumped and asking Google what a certain sentence meant. In doing so, I stumbled upon this wonderful site that allows you to reference different translations side-by-side. This site was a game-changer and made the book worth the work!
The 1997 translation by Stephen Walton was very helpful and uses modern English terminology. I would read a section of the Walton translation first, followed by the Long version. This process brought Epictetus’ precepts to life.
I realize that this much effort to read a book may not be everyone’s cup of tea. If you would like to read a summary of Enchiridion first, Ryan Holiday wrote a great recap of the book on his Daily Stoic website.
If you have a story you’d like me to include in a future newsletter, please email me at HelloAdversity@substack.com or drop a comment below.
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Really enjoy the roundups. Gives me some good nuggets of info to check out during the week. I did a walking trip in France last spring. Was my first time walking as opposed to biking. I truly enjoyed slowing down and just being out in the world.
Great links, Chris - thank you! Yay to Roundup #10! I particularly enjoyed Neil King Jr's article - the South West Coast Path is on my own list of want-tos - it's beautiful down there!