Top Santé: How did you come up with the idea for this book?
Carl Cederstrom: One day, I was smoking a cigarette, next to my dog. A woman approached and started shouting: ” What are you doing ? » I felt really guilty. However, I do not think that the dog’s health was in danger, nor that he was going to start smoking! Another day, a neighbor came to ask me to babysit his son because he hadn’t had time to run his usual 10 km yet and his wife was being held up. By accepting, I admired this muscular man who took the maintenance of his form so seriously. But I also said to myself that if I had asked him for the same service – babysitting my daughter – to read a book for two hours, he wouldn’t have been impressed at all and would probably have refused! This awareness that the search for well-being has become a matter of morality constitutes the object of this book.
TS What exactly do you mean by “well-being syndrome”?
CC Well-being is obviously a pleasant state and there is no question of rejecting it. It is his permanent search, which has become almost an obligation in certain circles, which seems to us to pose a problem. If you are addicted to Sunday jogging and now also Wednesday, if in addition you no longer know how to choose a dish without counting the calories it will bring you, if you feel guilty for not eating at least five fruits and vegetables per day and if, despite your best efforts, you feel like a failure for not always being positive in life, you are undoubtedly suffering from this tyranny of well-being that we call “well-being syndrome”.
TS How can this continual quest turn against you?
CC Today, well-being no longer appears only as an ideal to which we can freely choose to aspire, but increasingly as a moral imperative. This obsession with well-being, happiness and perfect health has become a global phenomenon. Advertising, companies, public authorities, everything pushes people to be thin, sporty, optimistic… as if everything depended on them! Also, when they can’t do it – and you can’t do it all the time – they feel guilty. The examples in this book show the perverse effects of these rules that we impose on ourselves to always get better and that end up transforming our way of living with our body and with others.
TS Are some companies not participating in this obsession?
CC . Companies are taking the well-being of their employees into their own hands, but this can go a long way. An English company, specializing in the management of hedge funds, has developed a program that analyzes the lifestyle habits of traders (sleep, diet, etc.) to then correlate them with their professional performance. If the analysis reveals an anomaly, the “bad” students are offered coaching sessions to regain a healthy lifestyle. The teachers’ union in Chicago was forced to sign a contract committing its members to participate in the Chicago Lives Healthy public health program. The teachers communicate their cholesterol level, answer a questionnaire on their level of happiness and stress, must play sports. Any offender is liable to a fine of $600 (about €500). Not only does the search for perfect health become an imperative, but one must show that one is happy to take care of it!
TS What negative effects did you observe during your investigation?
CC . In some companies, if you smoke where are you excess weight, you are thought to be lazy and weak. As if being healthy or positive were synonymous with being a good worker! These kinds of shortcuts lead to stress andanxiety that we invite you to manage by meditation. As if it were so simple! In the United States, there is even a club, Morning Glory, where people party from 6:30 am to 10 am. We go there to dance, drink healthy smoothies (alcohol prohibited) to be in shape and, then, to work well. If you like it, no problem. But what about shy people or late risers who force themselves to do like the others? For them, the tyranny of well-being can lead to ill-being and withdrawal.
TS What do you recommend to fight against this ideology of well-being?
CC . It is very important to make a distinction between being a good person and feeling good. Of course, it feels good to feel good. But that doesn’t mean you’re a better person morally. Also, rather than chasing after perfect well-being, let’s learn to live within our limits without feeling guilty. Well-being belongs to us on an individual level. Everyone has their own way of being happy. Let’s take this into account so as not to be overwhelmed by the norm of the moment, and stop thinking so much about our form and our morale. Let’s keep a little cool to look around us.
TS Do you intend to go further on this subject?
CC When our book was published, some told us: “How can you criticize things you’ve never tried” . I think they were right. So we decided to try some of them. We spent the year running and going to the gym, using electronic bracelets to measure our biological rhythms. Now we will do yoga, meditation, learn new things in record time, such as computer programming. When I was told that “Le syndrome du bien-être” was going to be published in French, I decided to spend a month learning the language. In April, I only read newspapers in French. And as you see, I speak a little… What will we learn from these experiences? Answer next year, I hope without “discomfort!”.
For further
The controversial book : “The syndrome of well-being”, Carl Cederström and André Spicer, ed. The escape, €15.
The authors: André Spicer, professor at Cass Business School, London. Author of “Unmasking the entrepreneur” (ed. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2009)
Carl Cederström, research professor at the Stockholm Business School. Co-Writer of “Dead Man Working” (ed. Zero Book, 2012)
