During a recent three-week hiking trip, there were times where I felt more than a little "on edge". I took these moments of struggle as an opportunity to reflect on something broader: that we can be in a certain amount of discomfort or pain, or generally in a bad situation, without suffering. Assuming we are not being faced with a mortal threat, and leaving aside extreme and lifelong hardship for the time being, is it possible for something to be challenging without it being a "fight"? Can something be a struggle without us struggling with it?
Tag: anxiety
Past Tense: The anxious voices of history
Whereas in my last piece I considered anxiety as fear of the future, in this post I reflect on the ways in which it might in fact derive from the past. Rather than being a “fear of future feelings”, as I put it, perhaps anxiety can be viewed as a way in which our fearful past selves keep up with us.
Temporal Whiplash: Anxiety and Fear of the Future that is Now
I once heard that the source of all anxiety is fear of the future, and the source of all depression is dwelling in the past. As a rough shortcut to understanding these two very common mental afflictions, this has appealing simplicity. But as one who has experienced both depression and anxiety, I have had a few reflections on the relationship between suffering and our orientation towards time. When we are anxious, where in time do we tend to be placing our focus? Or rather, where do we believe we are placing our focus, and are we sometimes fooling ourselves?
Self Care versus Self Compassion
What are the differences between self-care and self-compassion? There is a sense that the one is about behaviour and the other is about regard; hence, self-care is something we do, in the form of activities or rituals, while self-compassion (or perhaps more commonly referred to as self-love) is an attitude we have towards ourselves. In this post I explore the issues I have with some interpretations of self-care in the mainstream – how it has become monetised, used as yet another form of consumerism, and even become a way of avoiding responsibility for real self-nurturing and growth. But I’ve also been reminded that self-compassion is the conviction, the fundamental self-acceptance, that is necessary to enable self-care in the first place. After all, some days you’re too down to even self-sustain, let alone deem yourself worthy of looking after.
All & None of the Above 