Head in the trees, feet in the mud

So lately I’ve been thinking about the life we live, and the bits about it I like, and the bits I don’t like. And what to do about the bits I don’t like. It usually happens in the morning, as I disembark the train and join the masses to make my short way across the road to my inner-city office. There usually are a few people begging on the sidewalk, and mostly they are given a wide berth and ignored. Occasionally I’ll meet their gaze, and feel the urge to tell them, I’m not like them, I’m not part of the rat race, I notice you. And then I realise that I am part of the rat race, and that being noticed doesn’t do these guys much good. And I get depressed and want to get out of here. 
How do I get out of here? The way I see it there’s 2 options:

A) Literally get out of here. Quit job, leave the city, go live in the woods.

As much as I find this option attractive, it’s highly impractical (right now. Later, who knows?) for a series of reasons, the most obvious ones being:

• Leaving in the woods takes skills. I don’t have them
• Kids. They’re very adaptable and all that, and to some degree I believe it would be better for them too, but realistically you can’t wing it when you’ve got kids. Gambling with your life is ok, with someone else’s not so much

So that leaves me with 

B) Adapt some strategies to bring this life closer to our ethical ideals and more bearable. 

There’s a few of these I’ve found so far:

• Spend as much time as possible in the outdoors. Long runs in the bush are my way of recharging the batteries and getting some time to think. Good for the body, good for the soul.
• Slow down. The default pace in the city is walk-as-fast-as-you-can-without-quite-running. It’s a well studied behaviour that when walking in a group you tend to automatically match each other’s pace. When I catch myself doing this I try to consciously snap out of it and slow right down. Let the rest of them walk right past me, while if possible not being obnoxious and blocking everyone’s way. It’s surprising how much a very slow walk can do to lower my stress levels.
• It also works while in the office. Whenever I make myself a hot drink I have taken to doing it as slowly and deliberately as possible, trying to focus entirely on the process.
• Be empathetic. This is something that I’ve been trying to teach the kids, and in doing so it has been in the front of my mind for a while. I recently happened to find this talk by David Foster Wallace, and it puts my exact feelings into words. The take away for me is, that grumpy guy who pushed past me in the queue is probably having a shitty day to be in such a bad mood. He’s not out there to get me. I’m not going to make it better by being grumpy as well. Chill out.
• While I found this a tough one to apply sometimes, and borderline patronising if talked about the wrong way (this is where DFW is so good), it works for me by helping me become an observer. Somehow, I feel like I’m not part of the rat race anymore if I can stand to the side and be rational about that stuff. Not taking things personally. 

So I guess I’ll just keep trying to apply these more regularly, and hopefully find some more. Until I can figure out that living in the woods thing.