The Swedish Loneliness
micaelwidell.com
micaelwidell.com
And why does this problem seem to get worse as people gain wealth? Why does increasing affluence seem to always engender greater separation, especially if it makes us less happy?
I don't think this is unique to Swedes. Other north european peoples seem to suffer comparably, like Norgewians. And I think it's common in America too, and seems to arise in communities of all ethnic origin. Wealthy americans of all regional and ethnic extractions seem to follow the same trajectory, I think, with essentially the same outcome.
Wealth seems to breed isolation, and unhappiness. Yet few with wealth ever choose to let go of Xanadu and return to Rosebud.
I suspect it's due to a happy lifestyle. I don't "suffer" from it in my own words. I'm happy and very solitary. It's how I've always been (being the smartest, fearless, capable and most interesting person I know). Now, being that the concept of friendship having different levels of intimacy, you can do the math (see Proverbs 18:24 via Luke Cage S01E09). At a certain point, your learn to shed unreliable friends and real friends die off or move away or change...suffice to say it's rare that you're going to follow alongside their life path when you have means. I've been perfectly satisfied with my life about 8 times and most of those were when I was alone. I will probably die very much alone and as close to perfectly happy as I can manage. I just don't see it as a problem, but as a coping mechanism for lower income communities. It's probably true that I could be happy with other people, but I just can't stand most of them outside of work (I can limit relationships to working toward a common goal).