Lost and Found: Entering New Worlds
How Speculative Fiction has helped me navigate social anxiety
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“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown” — A Racist
How many hours of my ‘carefree’ teenage years did I spend isolated in the thorny clutches of anxiety and depression? Was it more than most? Merely different in form, a climbing and crashing wave instead of staccato thunderclaps?
My peers always seemed so blissfully open to new people, places, and experiences; to the point that I struggle to envision what role anxiety actually played for some of them. They could walk unprepared into the unknown with confidence. On the rare occasions I was dragged kicking and screaming into that void, it was only after endless stomach-churning procrastination and deliberation.
My approach to books and movies stands in sharp contrast to that fear of the unknown: when I’m already committed to enjoying a piece of media, I avoid trailers and back-of-book blurbs like the plague.
“But… How do you know you will like it?” You wisely ask.
Well, often I’m relying on recommendations and ratings from people I trust — hopefully you can trust me in turn! Other times, I find myself…
