A Guide for Anxious Humans
When I was nine, I wrote a story about my friends and me fighting giant spiders while we vanquished a great evil. The reviews were spectacular: five stars from both my parents! My literary career was off to a great start.
But a single comment from one reader, a family friend, has stuck…
Every now and then I get sick of the fact that all my goals are massive, overwhelming and scary. It’d be nice to just achieve something, for once. So I had an idea for a small, mini-project to help me recharge, and I thought it’d be fun to share the whole journey with you….
Most of the time I feel I ought to be trying harder. Sometimes, this feeling is correct: there are days when I need to put down the distractions and just get on with it, whatever “it” happens to be.
But often, I have the opposite problem.
It seems hard to believe, but there was a brief time when I was genuinely worried that I’d failed too little.
For years, the universe has refused to respect my wishes. In particular, I often experience things which I didn’t want to happen. And it’s unclear who I’m supposed to complain to about this.
Being skilled is a curse.
I don’t mean to sound conceited. (How could I be? One of my very best features is my world-beating humility.) It’s just that…when you can do something, it’s easy to feel like you should.
Readers of How To Be Everything—Emilie Wapnicks’s guidebook to life—will be familiar with the Phoenix Approach, which describes how people occasionally reinvent themselves like the legendary phoenix rising from its own ashes.
This sounds exciting—and it is. But it turns out burning up and rebirthing out of the remains can hurt.
When it comes to productivity, some say you should focus on one thing only, working on that sole project for many hours a day, for as long as it takes. Others believe in small daily progress over a longer period of time (maybe with more variety and additional projects that you shift between).
…
I feel… weird.
After years of building my knowledge of “How To Self Care,” I’ve become well-versed in identifying my needs and fixing them. I know how to rest when I’m tired, or how to channel my energy when there’s an excess.
What emotion comes to your mind when you think of 2020-21?
For me, right now, it’s joy.
As in, “does anyone remember what joy feels like?”