“I don’t gamble. I don’t spend recklessly. But I do have an expensive habit: anxiety. It’s cost me hours of sleep, moments with my family, and opportunities I let pass because I was too caught up in my fears. It’s the vacation I didn’t enjoy, the dinner I spoiled, the car ride I spent stressing instead of being present. Seneca said, ‘We suffer more in imagination than in reality.’ Anxiety drags us into a future that doesn’t exist, forcing us to live out worst-case scenarios that rarely happen. And yet, the time and energy anxiety steals are gone forever. The good news? If anxiety comes from within us, we can choose to let it go. Marcus Aurelius put it simply: ‘Today I escaped from anxiety. Or no, I discarded it, because it was within me.'”
Ryan Holiday
“Things don’t give us anxiety—we bring our anxiety to things. Think about it. What do all the things that make you anxious have in common? You. You are the common ingredient in all of them. That’s why Marcus Aurelius says in Meditations that he doesn’t escape his anxiety—he discards it because it’s within him. It’s the fault of his perceptions, nothing outside himself.”
Ryan Holiday
“If you are fearful of some event in the future, and all reasonable efforts to calm your fear have failed, try worrying about it as intensely, lengthily and specifically as possible. The exhausting experience of worry, which is a kind of preliving of events, may well defuse your anxiety when the event actually occurs. In the same sense, conscious worry encourages us to formulate solutions to the problems we will be facing. At any rate, do not try to repress or stifle your fear of what is to come. This is a sure path to anxiety in action.”
Robert Grudin, Time And The Art Of Living (Page 103)
“In Meditations, Marcus [Aurelius] talks about how he had a good day because he escaped anxiety. Then, he actually corrects himself, he goes ‘Actually, no, I didn’t escape it, I discarded it because it was within me.’ He’s realizing that he is the common variable in all the situations that cause him anxiety, just as you are. Anxiety is within us. We want to work on [controlling] it and thinking about it so it doesn’t rule our lives — or ruin our lives.”
Ryan Holiday
“Be present to it all: Welcome it and be with all the feels. Don’t make the situation or yourself wrong. Without resistance to what it is, you’ll feel more in your power. Being present in the moment also helps reduce anxiety about the future. Engage in activities that help you stay grounded, such as meditation, exercise, or spending time in nature.”
Nat Couropmitree | Read Matt’s Blog on this Quote ↗
“It is only when you live with something intimately that you begin to understand it. But the moment you get used to it—get used to your own anxiety or envy or whatever it is—you are no longer living with it. If you live by a river, after a few days you do not hear the sound of the water anymore, or if you have a picture in the room which you see every day you lose it after a week. It is the same with the mountains, the valleys, the trees—the same with your family, your husband, your wife. But to live with something like jealousy, envy or anxiety you must never get used to it, never accept it. You must care for it as you would care for a newly planted tree, protect it against the sun, against the storm. You must care for it, not condemn it or justify it.”
J. Krishnamurti, Freedom From The Known (Page 70)
“Curiosity is a cure-all for social anxiety. If you’re nervous on a date, ask more questions than you answer.”
Mari Andrews, Out of the Blue
“When we feel anxious about something, the most natural human response is to avoid it. We know that if we stay away, we’ll feel safe, for now. But avoidance not only maintains anxiety, it makes it worse over time… The things you do most of the time become your comfort zone. So, if you want to feel less anxious about something, do it as often as you can.”
Julie Smith, Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before?
“Trying to force a wild human brain into precise, professional boxes is one of the reasons we’re so overwhelmed in the first place.”
Aytekin Tank, Automate Your Busywork (Page 137)
“It may well rain tomorrow, but that doesn’t mean you have to get wet in advance. You can enjoy the sunshine today, while still bringing in your furniture just in case.”
Ryan Holiday, Daily Stoic Blog
