Labour Pains

I’m not sure exactly when it began. I’m not even sure whether we’d be on the mark if we turned our cameras to 2020, focusing on the Covid-19 pandemic, which is set to occupy a unique place in history. But there’s a sense of unease in the air. It’s as if everyone around me is feeling trapped. A sense of meaninglessness in everything they do, an inability to find the meaning they’re seeking, questioning the things they’d normally enjoy, and the bitter aftertaste left by all activities undertaken with such effort. Stories of violence are catching our eye more frequently in the media. Now you might say that people see in others what they see in themselves. That’s clearly what you see through your own window on the world. I, too, often check myself with the same reminder, but this time the situation is a little different: Surveys conducted by Gallup in late 2021 and early 2022, involving approximately 127,000 adults across 122 countries, have laid bare the painful period our world is currently going through, backed by data. In fact, negative emotions such as stress, sadness, anger and anxiety – which have been on an upward trend for the past 10 years – reached a new record high in 2021.^[1]

Undoubtedly, there are subjective reasons underlying the responses of each country and every individual in the sample. Leaving the in-depth research to the experts in the field, we can see that our country occupies a position in this equation that warrants particularly careful scrutiny. Feeling rested, being treated with respect, smiling, laughing, doing something enjoyable and learning something new – ranking third from the bottom globally, behind only Afghanistan and Lebanon, in the area that Gallup briefly refers to as the Positive Experience Index is, however you look at it, a sad state of affairs. The same study ranks Turkey second in the world for daily levels of anger and third for experiencing daily sadness.

Humans are emotional beings, and I don’t think it would be too far off the mark to say that the world is governed by emotions. Even those who claim to be the most rational weave their arguments around their emotions, and their decisions and actions are shaped by them. Our thoughts and actions are under the sway of our emotions. I cannot say whether it is the ‘chicken-and-egg’ dilemma—whether our circumstances drag our emotions down or whether our emotions trigger our circumstances—but there is a depressive atmosphere hanging over us, much like the never-ending ‘Monday Blues’. 

My aim is not to drag anyone further into pessimism. Especially since the ancient teaching that says, ‘It’s fate, don’t speak of it’, has taught us that the way to draw only the positive aspects from the world of possibilities is through positive speech; I have no intention of stirring the pot any further. On the other hand, the brave and inquisitive student within me is constantly raising her hand from the back rows, reminding me not to confuse optimism with Pollyanna-ism. The illness must be diagnosed fully and accurately so that the right treatment can be found. One must not, in the name of being optimistic, shy away from defining the parameters of the current situation or ignore the facts. On the contrary, optimism should give us the courage to understand the current situation with all its variables, to outline the picture fully, and to get to the root causes of the problems. It should provide the strength to carry on once the current situation has been fully understood.

This applies to this situation as well. Why is a society experiencing such emotional extremes? 

Can it be explained solely by the economic backdrop? 

The pot boiling on the hob is of undeniable importance. On the other hand, could the traces of fatigue and wear and tear left on people by today’s world—where economic interests are prioritised above all else, where all aspects of life are shaped around those interests, and where economic relationships are placed at the centre of every human structure—also play a part in this? 

Does the fact that people are not merely unemployed, but are carelessly clocking up hours at a job they cannot ‘hold on to’, also play a part in the picture? 

Could it be because, ever since society shifted from being producers to consumers; from giving to taking; and from contentment to greed, it has been left with nothing to hold on to? 

Could it be due to the fact that our quest for honesty, merit, trust and sincerity is leaving us increasingly unsatisfied? 

All of this is possible, and more besides. Let us leave the social analysis to those who specialise in it, but such a wealth of negative sentiment is simply unsustainable. It is now time to do something new and different, to transform ourselves. All this suffering must not be in vain; it must be the labour pains of a new beginning. A new beginning that will lead society towards something better and transform it…  

^[1] https://news.gallup.com/interactives/248240/global-emotions.aspx

Emine Ebru Arslan