It is indeed a rollercoaster no matter what you do, but even more so when we strap ourselves in and let the ride take us where it goes. The tracks will lead to places we don’t want to be if they are shaped by convenience, superficial materialism, fake lifestyle status and entitlement.
The good news is we have a choice. We have so much information at our fingertips and a powerful brain to use when we awake it from its routine-based slumber.
I think dialogue like this, online and in person, between people striving to better themselves and constantly learn, is a key. Eventually wisdom will pile up after a string of unfortunate decisions and bad outcomes. If we share our wisdom and surround ourselves with folks actively working towards the goal of true happiness, we can save each other those wisdom building mistakes but benefit from the lesson anyhow.
While I do love the shift from ignoring mental issues and personal well-being and a scarcity based economy, we may have swung too far into entitlement and found new flaws in ourselves while big business twists the screws like they did before unions protected individuals as a collective. Now, I see many unions as entitlement by committee and a profit being grifted from that virtue signal by another part of the system that evolved to take advantage.
Mindfulness balanced with education can be a tough equation but worth pursuing for more control over success and happiness.
But, this is living! This is what we need to aspire to...
I feel that one of the drivers of "the population is too big" is that the large percentage of the population who won't make it, are those who probably haven't done that much for humanity so far. The consumers.
The problem I have with the "mindfulness" approach (the media driven one), is that it has become another consumable, but not actually addressing real changes in most people. Quoting Gandhi and the Buddha, doesn't mean making the change for greater wellbeing, or becoming more community-minded. It is the equivalent of changing a profile picture to a flag color to signal solidarity. It does nothing much.
However, this doesn't mean that there isn't value in building and encouraging mindfulness, it just means that only a fraction of those who believe they are practicing it, are actually practicing it. The majority, have just put on a black dress, looked in the mirror, and decided they have lost weight.