I was reding a forum today where a question was asked about the Middle Ages being depressing. It wasn't except when it was. This answer applies to all periods and all people everywhere.
Today I woke up made something to eat and considered the weather. I would like to cut back some dead brush around the property but whether I do not that or not depends on the potential rain and how I feel later. This is not much different than what people have done throughout history except when they were caught up in larger events.
We look at history and focus on the events that might have changed a monarch or led to a war. Meanwhile in the thousands of years of our history, once individuals ended up in an agrarian life, it generally was about the same everywhere for everyone except when you were caught up in unusual events.
People tend to focus on what is normal. Yes, they might be in the way of invading armies or Viking (fill in the raider of your choice) raids but those were a horrible and rare event. When they were over people picked up the pieces and went about their life.
Our view of the middle ages or even the dark ages is distorted by events that impacted some people horribly but weren't as much of a factor as we think
Mostly they got up, did the work that needed to be done and hopefully had an uneventful work filled day.
It's what many aspire to today.
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