Anxiety about the future can include concerns about work, relationships, housing, climate change, global politics, and how AI may affect creative and intellectual careers. Advice to avoid thinking about these issues can feel incompatible with personal dreams and practical goals. Self-care can be framed as retreat, but retreat can become brittle and temporary when it involves turning away. Relief that hides from the problem may feel good briefly while the body recognizes avoidance. Facing overwhelming tasks directly can reduce paralysis and enable action. Worry can be valid, and fighting or engaging with concerns can be a route to comfort rather than a substitute for it.
"There's a widespread idea that taking care of ourselves means retreating from these problems, and the task is to work out how much retreat is too much. I think this is a lie sold by people who want us to consider epsom salts a form of resistance. I think a lot of us could afford to stop looking for ways to feel better and start looking for ways to fight, in part because fighting can be the best way to feel better. The struggle is the route to the comfort."
"Think about a similar phenomenon, when facing a massive to-do list. It's so overwhelming that I feel bad; I feel so bad I can't start; I need to do something comforting now so I can feel OK enough to start later. As you'll know, though, there is no analgesic like actually facing the problem. Any form of relief that involves turning away is so brittle by comparison. Your body knows it's only hiding."
"It's the same for the things that worry you. You're right to feel worried about the climate, what AI might do to creative and intellectual industries, your job prospects and economic future, why romantic respect feels so rare. I feel the exact same way. So many young people like you do. Some centre of gravity has been kicked out. But the primary problem is not fe"
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