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Is Being Too Comfortable Killing Your Happiness?
What Denmark can teach us about the trap of privilege
I live in Denmark, which, for many years, has been ranked as one of the happiest countries in the world. Danes live in a socialist society where free healthcare and education are guaranteed to everyone. Therefore, having a master’s degree is common, and many earn a middle-class salary. Without the burden of any healthcare or educational debts, people have plenty of disposable income to spend on traveling, restaurants, and other indulgences, and they often report having a healthy work-life balance. This balance ensures high social cohesion, minimal crime, and low levels of intolerance. However, despite these gifts, Denmark has one of the highest anti-depressant rates in the world, and that rate is increasing.
Experts have difficulty understanding this apparent paradox, but I believe the answer is revealed in two quotes from the Batman trilogy.
The Batman trilogy begins where the hero must train martial arts to become his strongest self. With this strength, he fights adversaries and creates a city of peace where its citizens can prosper. Afterward, he isolates himself from the world and spends the next ten years enjoying the comforts of his mansion where his muscles and reflexes naturally weaken. This is not a problem until…
