My Casual Anxiety
Things that currently induce anxiety in me, but like, don’t make me go crazy or anything.
It’s weird, we only see each other every few months, after I’ve gone through something new in life and I just need an outlet. Suppose I should value you guys more than that but I’m human, you see, and if nobody talks to me about this stuff I do it just feels like I’m writing into an abyss. I don’t know how much you know about abysses but they never text back. So I stop texting in the first place, you know?
Anyway, today I just wanna unload all the stuff that’s making me anxious. If you care and/or you relate, hit me up about it and let’s complain together, okay? You’re not alone, etc.
Anxiety Inducing Thing №1:
Climate change. My goodness. For my people in London, we can all admit that the sudden mini-heatwave in February was weird right? Like, the-world-is-ending weird? Because it definitely was that kind of weird. Nothing about that experience was normal. Sure, I loved the sun and of course, I tried to take selfies and deleted them all, but still — weird. In fact, that entire experience can be described with one GIF:
Like. Something’s up. And you know what annoys me about this whole climate change stuff? The right work still isn’t being done.
Who cares that Starbucks now uses paper straws or that the #trashchallenge was trending and getting people off their arses to clean public beaches? I mean sure, by all means, please continue but it is not enough. Not when 100 companies in the fossil fuel sector are responsible for 70% of emissions and their lobbyists are trying to block climate change policies. That’s what should be trending, but the media would rather have you believe that it’s Adam from Birmingham’s fault for not recycling last week.
We know better. So let’s demand from our leaders that they do better in turn. It’s genuinely perplexing how laid-back the whole issue is, especially from the government. Unless they have an Earth 2.0 stashed away somewhere, this is it! There isn’t another Earth; we’ve got to take better care of this one and now. We don’t even have time to waste with it, we need to act now.
Shoutout to Greta Thunberg for her relentless work around this issue, she is deserving of her Nobel Peace Prize. I guess she feels the panic, and rightfully so too, because she’s going to be in the same boat a lot of us will find ourselves in if we don’t do anything — mid 30s/40s, maybe with families and adult lives, only to have the effects of climate change really come into full swing. Not just with the climate, either, but the economic downturn and mass immigration as a result of entire coastal states being flooded beyond occupation.
Then what?
You see why that’s scary, right? Because it’ll be too late to do anything substantial by then. We won’t be able to fix it. People scrambling for a safe place to live, some desperate enough to commit crimes. Others trying to protect their property, willing to go to the same extremes. Nobody wants a Hunger Games situation IRL. It won’t be fun, I guarantee it.
So let’s do something. Please? Soon? Thanks.
Anxiety Inducing Thing №2:
Adulting.
If you rolled your eyes at that — I understand. Trust me, I did too. Because it’s so cliche, isn’t it? How typical of a Gen Z-er who’s never had to do anything for himself to quiver at having to actually be independent. Wow! Welcome to the real world, and all that stuff, right? Yeah, I know. But just go with me, okay?
I guess most of my anxiety around this stems from my inability to be comfortable with uncertainty. That’s something that we don’t face a lot during school and especially growing up. Things were ordered and structured for us by higher powers that we trusted to run everything well. Now you’re telling me that I’m supposed to be thrust into a cold, unfeeling world that doesn’t care about anything but the hard truth — proof — of my contribution to it?
It’s a responsibility that, frankly, most of us are unprepared for, excluding those who had to assume that responsibility at a younger age due to some tragedy or another. But for the rest of us, it’s a completely new feeling, a completely new experience. Beyond our immediate circle of family and friends, there are no check-ups on your progress, there are no assignments that test your skills, there are no authority figures running things for you. It’s so easy to be mediocre. So easy to fade into an existence that doesn’t matter or provide anything to anyone. To just be another sedentary consumer of food, entertainment and products.
To be great is your responsibility only.
That job you want, that career you want, that body you want. Anything you want is your responsibility (excluding some influencing factors like gatekeepers, discrimination, etc). And it’s not so much that it’s a huge responsibility, but that adjusting to that mindset takes some time. Time that constantly feels like is running out, which, when paired with the power of platforms such as Instagram showing us the best highlights of our age-mates, can make us feel inadequate. It’s a horrible trap anyone can easily get stuck in.
Adulting now doesn’t feel like adulting that our elders went through. They suffered, don’t get me wrong. A lot of them lived through turbulent times, hit by discrimination and war and poverty, which formed the basis for them as the overprotective and extra cautious parents they are today. (Which led to participation trophy culture and lack of free play, which now has links to anxiety and depression in later life. Check this, this, and this for more.)
But the difficulty we face in this New Adulthood is different and it grows more evident daily. Social media messes people up mentally and emotionally, stunting attention spans along with self esteem.
And everything feels algorithmic. Or is that just me? It feels like a race to be the best influencer. And so things feel incredibly tense and competitive; things we care about are forgotten within a week; every month someone new is cancelled by a horde of faceless masses online; there’s another botched or jealousy-inducing surgery.
It’s an entirely different ecosystem, with completely new rules and roles. Everybody seems to be pining for success, without a clear idea as to what that looks like.
It gets hectic. Distracting. Confusing. It gets hard to figure out your own path, free of biased opinions. It gets hard to accept who you are sometimes. It gets hard to feel like you matter. And I don’t know how we can fix it. Not without some serious conversations being had — not without everybody being heard.
I don’t know. I just pray we some day figure it out.
Anxiety Inducing Thing №3:
Mega-corps and the Government.
Get your tin hats on, folks, we’re about to get weird with it.
To be honest, that’s a discredit to myself because it’s less conspiracy theory and more general worry about the actions these massive organisations are taking and the lack of transparency around it.
Even if we weren’t talking about how our data is mined, packaged and sold to third party companies — thereby completely invading our right to privacy — we could discuss how these corporations are essentially cornering the free market and slowly establishing a monopoly over multiple industries. Looking at you, Bezos. Then at you, Disney.
Why is this worrying me? Well, I’m of the belief that corps and government shouldn’t be in bed together. That’s how we got to this messed up climate change situation — lobbyists lining the pockets of our leaders and whispering sweet things in their ears so they take it easier on the corporations with tax and legislation. Kinda makes you wonder just how much of a democracy we live in.
And even aside from climate change alone, my personal issue with government and mega-corporations being so friendly is because it means it’ll be harder to regulate these companies in a fair and somewhat objective way. They could do whatever they want.
Next thing you know, Amazon owns a country and Facebook sponsors your passport. Everyone’s data is managed by an Apple AI and Tesla manages public infrastructure. And Hollywood becomes Disneywood.
It’s not that these are exactly bad in themselves (they are lowkey), but that these mega-corps seem to be inching their way towards that somewhat authoritarian dominance, with little to no voice from or consideration for the people.
And I don’t know. That kinda worries me.
Finally
OK, I think that’s it. Those are three of the things that’re currently making me feel kinda anxious. At least for now.
If more pop up, guess what? I’ll write them down. If you relate to it and wanna talk or discuss, hit me up. I’ll be happy to discuss.
Oh, and disclaimer: I’m not claiming I’m outright correct about any of these issues. If I’m wrong, let me know. I’d rather be educated on an issue than walk around sounding stupid, full of false confidence.
Alright. That’s all. I think.
Thank you for reading. Catch you next time!
