So I was thinking today about the overall concept of freedom and anxiety and how the two are invariably linked.
Kierkegaard wrote that anxiety is “the dizziness of freedom.”
I have been thinking about this because I see so many posts on social media platforms about the crippling anxiety that people feel on a day to day basis.
It would seem to me that the anxiety of masses is constantly growing because our options are ever growing as well.
Our freedom to pick our paths seem practically limitless, but we often only see the obstacles between the goal and where we are. I think this is only a symptom of the larger problem that exists within all of us.
I believe we are always in a state of anxiety and dread, but we hide in happy moments that mask the problems that persist. When bad things happen, these anxious feelings arise because we are forced to confront some sort of weakness within ourselves. And I do not believe anyone is immune to this.
To some extent, we must strip away all of our comforts whether they be games, drugs, alcohol, relationships, parties, physical wealth, etc. to truly see the problems that are clawing away at us.
I think it is important that we take risks and go after the opportunities that scare us. Opportunities that come with feelings of despair and dread.
Because on the other side of these obstacles may be profound personal growth – although that is the dizzying freedom of choice. Though option paralysis, imposter syndrome, all can just stop us from doing anything new or challenging.
“Man is condemned to be free.”
—Jean-Paul Sartre
None of us ever chose to be a free-thinking being but we are, and truly coming to grips with that includes anxiety.
I do not believe these to be negative things either, I don’t even see anxiety or dread as negative concepts, they exist to remind us of consequence. The consequence on the other side of anxiety is personal growth and accomplishment.
I will just conclude by saying, never let anxiety, dread, or despair stop you from accomplishing something, personal development, or pursuing a lofty goal. We didn’t ask for our freedom but we have it, never stop using it, it’s our greatest power attached to our most crippling weakness.
Just some thoughts that have been bubbling in my noggin all day.
—logan shepard
Flommist Logan Shepard is a philosopher at heart, an artist in spirit, and a dictator in thought. You can think of him like a modern Diogenes sans the whole being homeless thing. Copyright © 2021 Logan Shepard. Pictured: Paul Nash, We Are Making a New World, 1918, source.
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