LIFESTYLE isn’t about trends, fads, or personalities; it’s about how you live your life and your unique journey towards self realization. In essence, LIFESTYLE is a concept that’s been around for centuries, but only now is becoming more mainstream in the west. The concept is about your personal journey towards being happy, healthy, successful, and self-aware. It can be considered a philosophy, a guide for how to live, think, and feel on a daily basis.
LIFESTYLE is all about human relationships. The word was originated by Austrian psychiatrist Alfred Adler in his 29th book, The Case of Miss R. which means “a child’s basic nature as established early on”. Lifestyles are based on one’s attitudes, beliefs, cultural background, social network, and personal values and aspirations. The book talks about four aspects or dimensions of human lifestyle: physical environment, psychological environment, emotional environment, and social environment.
LIFESTYLE is influenced by different theories including behaviorism, sociological theory, and individual psychology. The former school of thought believes that human behaviors are caused by the drives or instincts we were born with; the latter school of thoughts believes that human behaviors are the result of social and psychological influences. The former school of thoughts includes instinctive behaviors such as hunger, sex, excitement, aggression, flight or fight, and maternal instincts such as protecting the child and nurturing. However, LIFESTYLE considers that these behaviors are also influenced by several factors such as environmental conditions, social environments, and individual psychology.
A common question that LIFESTYLE users often ask is, “How does LIFESTYLE differ from other lifestyle content writing tools such as Eat Your Best, Fast Food Nation, and The New York Times blog?” The difference between these three types of content is not primarily in style or topic; rather, it is in its underlying structure. LIFESTYLE relies on a strong focus on individual psychological and cultural factors. Unlike Eat Your Best and Fast Food Nation, LIFESTYLE addresses more practical concerns such as how to get healthy fast food in your area. Although both of these programs address issues related to food selection and cooking methods, Eat Your Best aims to offer readers more recipes, while Fast Food Nation offers readers food selections from all over the world.
LIFESTYLE uses an effective technique called polaroid imaging. Polaroid images allow the writer to draw detailed conclusions and identify specific psychological and cultural factors that may affect a consumer’s decision to purchase a product. Unlike traditional business writing, LIFESTYLE emphasizes the author’s unique style as well as his or her own personality and perspective in each piece. A unique aspect of LIFESTYLE is that it is completely searchable using a polaroid scanner.
In addition to LIFESTYLE’s distinctive style, the blog also offers its users many other tools that they can use to create their own “Lifestyle Collections.” Many of the features of LIFESTYLE include a categorized list of articles by categories, a store directory for readers to find local foods that are within the author’s “lifestyle” area, a “What’s Hot” column that provides recommendations of current reads based on reader responses and a discussion forum for visitors to engage in conversation with other readers. While LIFESTYLE offers a unique perspective on shopping, food and the author’s own eclectic lifestyle, the blog is very different from the other two programs mentioned above. Unlike Eat Your Best and Fast Food Nation, LIFESTYLE does not focus on food, but instead, delves into the psychology of consumers.