This summer my wife and I took our son to visit some of the places we’d travelled to in Indonesia about 10 years ago, as we felt it was a good time for him to experience a new culture, and give him a real jungle experience.
With the exception of the food, he loved it!
During the trip, I couldn’t help notice a few things about the local lifestyle that contrasted deeply with a more ‘western’ way of life when it comes to health (and happiness).
There are many vast a deep differences between the way of life in Indonesia and the UK, for example, and I won’t try to explain them all here, but there are a few that stood out to me.
One: We're extremely lucky
When I say ‘we’, I’m talking about those of us who live in Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand (because that’s where most of you reading this will be).
And despite how much we like to moan and complain about the state of everything, most of the time, we really have no idea how lucky we are.
Most of us have easy access to medicine and clean running water, we also have access to so much educational material about health and fitness from governments and online.
We have an abundance of choice when it comes to food and nutrition in our supermarkets.
There’s more than likely a bin lorry that will take your rubbish away every week or two.
Our workplaces have health and safety policies. Your office chair is probably ergonomic and for a few quid, you can probably kit yourself out with all the exercise gear you need at your local sport shop.
There’s more than likely a gym or two within a few miles of where you live and, most likely, there’s probably even a pavement outside your house that you could quite safely go for a jog along with only a few small pot-holes to navigate.
Many of these things that we so often take for granted just don’t exist in some parts of the world, or are at least much more difficult to come by.
So the next time you feel like having a moan about how hard it is to exercise or get fit, spare a thought for those who genuinely struggle to get through the day safely and healthily.
Two: Alcohol is not required
During our four week adventure, we visited the island of Bali before heading over to the islands of Gili Air, Lombok, Java, and Borneo.
With the exception of Bali which predominantly follows the Hindu religion, all of the other islands are muslim, so pretty much everywhere we went (except for the tourist restaurants) there was no alcohol.
As someone who doesn’t drink it was interesting for me to see how people still came together to socialise without alcohol.
And they socialise a lot.
In fact most of the daily life we witnessed was centered around religious rituals, whether that be placing offering for the Gods and visiting temples on Bali or going to the mosques on the other islands.
Over there, life revolves around religion, friends and family in a big way, and we would often see groups of friends and families gathered together and having a lot of fun with not a drop of booze in sight.
Three: Smoking is a huge killer
Especially when the men get together to hang out and chat, it’s almost always accompanied by constant chain-smoking.
In fact, most men constantly chain smoke all day every day, or so it seemed to us.
Smoking is culturally accepted in Indonesia (unlike alcohol) and cigarettes are really cheap too, and so I suppose there’s a need to bond over something, and in the absence of alcohol, they seem to bond and socialise with cigarettes and tea.
But, when you look into the statistics, (which I did because I’m such a nerd) you discover that life-expectancy in Indonesia is pretty low at just 65 years, and that the leading causes of death among men is, you’ve guessed it, lung cancer and stroke.
I feel like Indonesians are getting left behind here.
Maybe there’s little education about the dangers of smoking, maybe people just don’t care, or maybe it’s just such a social stigma, not to smoke, that they can’t get away from it?
These days (in Europe anyway) smoking traditional cigarettes seems to have become so taboo, so expensive, and we all clearly we all know how bad it is for our health that more and more people are choosing not to smoke, or at least are switching to vaping.
I believe, it’s all wrapped in identity and culture.
For as much as people in the ‘west’ are dropping smoking, we do drink a lot of booze, because that’s our culture.
Four: Simple things bring joy
It’s so cliche, but how often have you heard people say that money doesn’t buy happiness?
Personally, I’m not sure how true that is in Europe, but spend any time in rural Lombok, for example, and you’ll see plenty of people with very little who are happy, smiling and laughing.
In some parts of Indonesia, it’s not hard to find very poor people who have incredibly hard lives, doing back-breaking work in the fields, yet they have no problem cracking a big beautiful smile and having a damn good laugh with their friends.
Community spirit, family, friends, the simplest of pleasures, and the most basic jokes never failed to bring out joy and laughter in the people we met.
So despite the hardships, despite the lack that we witnessed, if life was to be judged on happiness, smiles and laughter, I’m damn sure Indonesia would be up there at the top of the list!
Five: We need something else to bond over
Over there, family and community is out in the open for all to see.
People gather on the street. The women work together in the fields and then all walk home together, laughing and smiling. Extended families gather in compounds to chat, and the men of the villages come together often, almost daily, to talk about life, for prayer, problem solving and discussing religion.
In Indonesia, men bond together on simple wooden platforms to shelter from the sun and share stories while smoking cigarettes and drinking tea.
In the west, men do most of their bonding either at work or over beers in bars and pubs which makes drinking alcohol the social and cultural norm.
However, booze also has a knack of causing a shit load of issues when it comes to our health and addiction.
We all need that social connection. Bonding. It’s what gives us connection. It brings us happiness and joy, and helps us find our place in society.
What I believe we need, are healthier options where we can socialise and bond together.
Whether that be as part of a health focussed community, a running club, playing football, joining a gym, or just going out for a bike ride with your mates rather than meeting in the pub.
A social connection to your family, friends, and community is vital for health and happiness, if only we could be more comfortable doing it in a healthier way.