“Anxiety is needless and imaginary. It’s fear about fear, fear that means nothing. Anxiety is diffuse and focuses on possibilities in an unknown future, not a real and present threat. […] Anxiety […] is dangerous paralysis.” Seth Godin, Linchpin
By: Gabriela Yareliz
Anxiety is something all humans encounter. We all experience it— some more than others. I do find Godin’s analysis of anxiety an interesting one. He presents it as something we choose to feed, and I think this is true. I find, personally, that anxiety stems from the moments when I am more self-absorbed and allowing my thoughts to run wild rather than finding a way to mold and guide my thoughts onto a more beneficial path.
More and more, I find myself surrounded by people who claim they are suffering within circumstances that don’t merit the reaction evoked. People spiral over the simplest things. Honestly, there are times when I wonder what makes people think they have it so hard. (This is where the self-absorbed element comes into play).
We live in a society where so many people are not only anxious but paralyzed. I have seen it in people’s faces on Zoom calls. That blank look. So much of this has to do with what we choose to feed in our minds. How in control are we of our thoughts and what we allow into our spheres and environments? Even within things you cannot choose, one can always find a choice.
To say this choice is not possible strips one of one’s God-given gift of free will. In a world that seems to be accepting and almost pushing paralysis as a status quo thing, I think we have to be strong enough to reject that. We have to shed our fear about fear, and decide to mold a better world both inside of us and externally. For the external is always a reflection of what we feed inside.
It takes resolve, selflessness and a sense of strong purpose.
GABRIELA YARELIZ 