3 Systems for Coping With Existential Dread
A fact I’ve been thinking about a lot lately: People would rather give themselves electric shocks than be left alone with their thoughts.
That was the takeaway of a study published a few years ago — or a few hundred, depending on how you measure — and treated, in a wave of headlines, with a sort of can-you-believe-it mixture of amusement and grim resignation. Haha, our brains are so broken.
I can absolutely believe it. Right now? I’d take the shocks, no question. Cutting down on doomscrolling is always a good idea, but even when you put down your phone and close out of all your problematic tabs, you’re still left with your own head. For a lot of us, it’s not a great place to be lately.
But while we may not be able to treat the cause of our existential dread, we can treat the symptom. When all this [gestures broadly] just feels like too much to take on, a system can help you organize, calm, and control your anxious thoughts. Here are three options to choose from.
The circle of concern: On Forge, Brain Pennie explains a tool he’s adopted from Steven Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Picture two concentric circles (or grab a piece of paper and draw them, if you’re a visual person). The inner circle is your “circle of influence,” or all the things in your life that are within your…
